


Melting the Chains

by midas_touch_of_angst



Series: Fanning the Flames [2]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket, IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: (that last one in reference to Bev's backstory which is basically the same as the movie), Also I finally decided on an Established Canon Timeline! Yay me!, Also several references to ATWQ and a few good Stranger Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - VFD, Arson, Ben is a Conspiracy Nerd (and a Lemony Snicket fan), Bill Denbrough is Very Unfortunate, But VFD is still bullshit, Conspiracy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Lots of Fires, Moral Ambiguity, Mystery, This takes place slightly before FTF, VFD is Terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-07-05 12:45:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 72,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midas_touch_of_angst/pseuds/midas_touch_of_angst
Summary: When his little brother is abducted and nobody seems to care, Bill Denbrough starts to investigate the secrets of his hometown. He and his friends manage to uncover information about kidnapped children, lost fortunes and burned-down buildings, and all of these mysteries seem connected to a secret organization that spreads much farther than they could have imagined. But as he begins to dig deeper, Bill learns that the people he thought he could trust might be keeping some secrets of their own.The Losers Club in ASOUE Universe AU, semi-sequel to "Fanning the Flames" but can be read independently or in any order.Rated Teen and Up for Swearing and Threats of Violence.





	1. Bill Denbrough blames Himself for What Happens Next

**CHAPTER ONE**

_Bill Denbrough blames Himself for What Happens Next_

 

Bill’s entire life changed the night his brother was kidnapped.

Before that day, his life was somewhat normal. He’d turned thirteen a few months ago, he was in band and choir, he was mostly getting good grades, and he had friends. Sure, his life wasn’t perfect. He couldn’t talk very well- he’d had a stutter for as long as he could remember, which meant he was an easy target for a lot of the bullies who didn’t have better shit to do. And he wasn’t very close with his parents, but not a lot of kids in Derry were. But he was close with his friends, and with his younger brother.

The morning of the incident, Georgie had woken Bill up by bouncing on his bed.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Bill asked, looking up.

“It’s Friday!” Georgie said brightly, stopping his jumping to sit on the edge of the bed, giggling.

“Yeah? So?”

“So we can stay up late tonight!” Georgie said, smiling at his brother. “When you get back from school we can make boats and watch TV and pull an all-nighter-”

“Yeah, but it’s _morning_ now.” Bill said, smiling slightly. “So y-y-you need to st-stop bouncing and get ready for school.”

“Boo!” Georgie yelled, but he jumped off the bed. “School’s no fun!”

“You can see your fr-friends.” Bill reminded him. “And you… you like Art.”

“Kinda.”

“Okay, now l-l-leave me alone and l-let me get dressed.”

Georgie smirked. “Maybe I should pick your outfit out for ya, Billy. Stan says you’re a ‘fashion disaster’.”

“Stan himself is a disaster, he c-c-can’t judge.” Bill said.

Georgie laughed and raced off, and Bill smiled slightly as he got out of bed. He had no reason to believe today would be any different than any other day.

And he had no idea that this was the last day his family would all be together.

 

“I’m telling you,” Richie said, sitting cross-legged on his desk and tapping his pencil, “It’s the law. If the teacher’s not here in fifteen minutes-”

“And I’m telling _you_ ,” Stan said sharply, from his desk by the window, “If you say that one more time, I will feed you to Bill’s hamster.”

Bill sighed, noticing several students were glancing at him now. Stan and Richie usually didn’t fight- at least not loud enough for other kids to hear- but for some reason they’d both gotten very tense today.

“What would they do if we just left?” Eddie whispered, turning to Bill; they’d somehow ended up at the desk next to each other in at least one class every school year, since Kindergarten. “Could they give us detention, if the teacher’s not here?”

Richie managed to hear this question, so he spun around and said, “Well, Eds, they cannot. They _can_ arrest us, though.”

“They can-” Eddie looked panicked a second, and then when Richie laughed, he said, “That’s not _fucking_ funny!”

“Language.” said one of the girls in the back.

“Suck a dick.” said another girl, and Bill jumped when he realized it was Beverly Marsh. The girl, who’d been basically a cryptid to the rest of the school for the whole year, flipped off the girl before grabbing her books and shoving them into her bag.  

“What are you doing?” the boy next to Beverly asked.

“Packing up. Tozier’s right.” the redhead said. “It’s been fifteen minutes, we can go. It’s in the school rulebook.”

“Yay! Weekend comes early!” Richie cheered, almost toppling off his desk as he threw his arms up and lost balance. The nearest boy to him- the new kid, Bill couldn’t remember his name- jumped up and managed to catch him just in time and push him back up to a sitting position.

“Thanks, Haystack!” Richie said, smirking at the boy as some of the other kids snickered. He then shifted his voice into a bad british accent, saying, “Alright, you heard the fair lady! We’re officially free!”

“Jesus, Rich, I’m gonna murder you.” Eddie said.

“What about the teacher?” Stan asked.

“He’ll be f-f-fine. It’s his own fault.” Bill said. “Now c-c-come on. Richie’s right. We’re _free_ for the day.”

 

“Are you gonna let me go, or is there a password?”

Ben jumped, whipping around. He’d been standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching to make sure no teachers were going by, just in case they _would_ get in trouble for leaving. He also kinda wanted to make sure some of the meaner kids weren’t coming by, too. Any of the ones who were in his final class had already left, he thought, but you had to make sure…

And now, as he turned, he saw Beverly Marsh standing behind him, leaning against the railing. His face turned as red as her short-cut hair and he immediately started stuttering, stepping back. Her face fell a bit, and he finally said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s okay.” Beverly said, smiling slightly. “You’re the new kid, right?”

“Uh, Ben.” he introduced. “I mean, everyone calls me ‘the New Kid’, but-”

“So, how much did they tell you about me?”

Ben paused, confused. “About you? Um… nothing, I don’t think.”

Beverly looked a bit confused, and then she said, “Bev Marsh? You haven’t heard anything?”

“Nobody really… talks to me.” Ben admitted awkwardly.

“Well, then, we’ve got one thing in common.” Bev paused, and then said, “Can I walk you home? My Mom’s not gonna be home from work for an hour or so.”

“Uh, sure!” Ben said, wishing to God he’d stop blushing. “Sure. Uh, do you want to… talk about anything?”

“Not if you don’t want.” Bev said, stepping off the stairs and smiling slightly.

“Okay.” Ben said quietly, and they walked off.

 

“He th-thrusts his f-f-fists… _shit_.”

“You’ll get it eventually, Big Bill.” Richie said, slowing his bike a little.

“Yeah, you just gotta keep at it.” Stan said.

“It’s f-f-fucking hard!” Bill huffed.

The four boys were biking home. Bill’s house was the first stop, then Richie, then Eddie. Stan said he was fine biking on his own the rest of the way to his own house, but every now and again Bill worried about him going alone, especially since adults tended to give him odd looks whenever he was walking by himself.

“When you eventually get it, Bill, you can try more complicated tongue-twisters.” Eddie said. “Like She sells seashells.”

“That one’s easy.” Richie said. “Try singing ‘Unique New York’ with increasing tempo.”

“We get it, you’re a theater kid.” Stan rolled his eyes.

“I d-don’t think that’s how it w-works, anyway.” Bill said, sliding his bike to a stop as they approached his house.

“Well, see you tomorrow?” Richie asked. “For video games?”

“Jesus, you really wanna spend the weekend at the arcade again?” Eddie asked. “We could just go to the Library.”

“Ha, good one, Eds.”

“Don’t _call me that_!”

“We’ll meet at the arcade, it’s okay.” Bill said. “S-see you t-tomorrow!”

“See ya tomorrow, Bill.” Eddie said.

“We’ll destroy Richie at Street Fighter.” Stan said.

“You wish.” Richie rolled his eyes.

Bill waved as his friends rode away, before pushing his bike into the open garage. He chained it up, walked into his house, and dropped his bag at the bottom of the stairs.

“Anyone h-h-home?” Bill called.

“ _Billy_!”

Georgie rushed down the stairs, bouncing on his feet.

“Where are M-m-mom and Dad?” Bill asked, as Georgie slid to a stop in front of him.

“Mom’s buying food and Dad’s at a meeting.” Georgie said. “You wanna get a head-start on boats?”

“Absolutely.” Bill said. “Come on, you g-g-get the wax and I’ll get the paper.”

Georgie’s face fell. “In the cellar?”

“You w-w-want them to float, don’t you?”

“Can’t you get it?”

“D-d-don’t be chicken.” Bill said, smiling slightly. “Come on. Y-y-you’ll be fine.”

 

“Billy,” Georgie asked, holding up a paper boat, “Do you think Mom and Dad would like a boat?”

Bill _hmm_ ed, looking up. They were sitting at Bill’s desk, folding paper and painting it with wax. They’d been at this for several hours, and Bill was shocked that neither of them had gotten bored. “I dunno.”

“I can ask.” Georgie perked up.

Bill paused. “Th-they might not w-w-want to talk.”

“Oh.” Georgie said. “Why?”

“C-cause. They just don’t.”

“Maybe your friends would like a boat.”

“They d-d-don’t really play with boats.”

“Why?”

“They just don’t.”

“That’s a weird answer.” Georgie said simply.

“Well it’s tr-true.” Bill said.

“Do all older kids use that answer?”

“Most. It’s something you’ll… you’ll have to get used to.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“J-j-jesus, Georgie, can you chill with the que-questions?”

Georgie huffed, but brightened when Bill held up a boat he’d finished painting. “There we g-g-go.” he said. “Another one.”

“We’re almost out of paper.” Georgie observed.

“Then we’ll have to sleep.” Bill said.

“ _Nooo_.” Georgie groaned. “I wanna stay up late! It’s Saturday, we can do that!”

“Yeah, but you’re gonna feel like sh-shit in the morning.”

“I won’t.” Georgie said seriously. “I’m a morning person, unlike you-”

Before he could finish that thought, they heard what sounded like some kind of automobile engine backfiring. They both jumped, and Georgie immediately rushed to the window. Bill paused, before jumping onto his mattress, ducking down to reach under his bed, trying to find that old baseball bat. If he needed to use it as a weapon…

“I don’t see anything.” Georgie said, and Bill relaxed slightly, sitting up. “There aren’t even any cars or people outside.”

“It was pr-probably a car passing by.” Bill said carefully, sitting up.

“But there isn’t any car!”

“Don’t worry.” Bill said, knowing that it was probably best to calm his brother down. “It’s n-n-nothing, Georgie.”

“It there’s nothing out there, what was that noise?” Georgie asked, standing up.

Bill smirked slightly, and said, “Have you been w-w-watching scary movies again?”

“No!”

“It was an accident.” Bill said certainly. “Don’t w-worry. It’s not like it’s a m-monster or a s-serial killer.”

“Of course not.” Georgie said, though he didn’t sound sure.

“You should g-g-get to sleep.” Bill said.

“Ugh, fine.” Georgie rolled his eyes, before running up to give his brother one last hug, jumping over the pile of paper boats. “What should we do about the boats?”

“Leave them h-here, and next time it rains, we can race them.” Bill said.

“Promise?”

“Pr-promise, Georgie.”

Georgie smiled, and then jumped away, saying, “See ya later! Bye!”

Bill suddenly got a very dark feeling. He felt his stomach clench, and suddenly really wanted to call out to Georgie, to tell him to spend the night in here instead, to keep making boats with him, to stay up til midnight making fun of school bullies and boring teachers and reading books in silly voices.

“B-bye.” Bill said instead.

 

Bill fell asleep around midnight, and woke up around 2AM to his brother screaming.

He sat up, his older sibling instincts kicking in and putting him on instant alert. He paused for a second, processing what was going on, and then leapt out of bed, throwing his door open and rushing to his little brother’s room.

He didn’t know what he expected. Probably that Georgie would just be pointing at a spider on the wall, or that he’d be crying over a nightmare from that horror film trailer that came on TV. He didn’t know why he was so worried, when all the odds said that it would be nothing.

But when Bill threw his brother’s door open, and looked inside, he saw Georgie being held by his ankle by a tall, darkly-clothed man, with a second person holding the window open.

Bill froze for only an instant, and then he rushed in, yelling, “ _Georgie_!”

The second adult rushed forwards as Georgie let out a panicked cry, grabbing Bill by the arms and pushing him back towards the door. Bill tried to break free, kicking and screaming and calling for his parents, for _anyone_ , to come help.

The adult, clearly upset at how loud he was being, shoved him hard. Bill gasped as his head collided with the wall, and he froze for a second, only to be grabbed and something pressed against his mouth- a handkerchief of some kind? He started to see spots in his vision, struggling to stay awake, his eyes focused on Georgie, who was crying and being dragged towards the window… 

The adult holding Georgie suddenly dropped something, and Bill caught sight of a strange-looking spyglass. He stared at it for a second, the etching of an Eye on the lid burning into his memory, before he fell to the ground, and his vision went dark.

When he woke up, Georgie was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, quick notes: 
> 
> \- Takes place in the same universe as my ASOUE/Stranger Things crossover "Fanning the Flames". While I might like to do a Part III at some point, this fic can be read independently or in any order. 
> 
> \- Elements of the TV series will be included, like the Spyglass, but VFD is based heavily on what's revealed about them in later books and the Unauthorized Autobiography. There will also be other book-canon parts, such as the ASOUE books existing and multiple references to All the Wrong Questions. 
> 
> \- Losers Club Characterization is based mainly on the 2017 film (since that's my favorite of the versions of IT) but with a lot of book influence: for example, Beverie is the BROTP we deserved and Mike gets to be a Historian again. 
> 
> \- Based off a gifset I made a while ago- but warning: major spoilers for this fic are included in the gifset (and also I might wanna remake it later, I got a better gif editor since then): https://whencartoonsruletheworld.tumblr.com/post/169792865142/
> 
> \- What year does this take place in? The Year of the Rat, clearly.
> 
> \- Hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> ~ Midas


	2. Bill Denbrough discovers that the Derry Police Force sucks

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Bill Denbrough discovers that the Derry Police Force sucks_

 

“I t-t-told you.” Bill said, through his tears. “I told you _everything_. What the g-guys look like. What the… the spyglass looked like. I don’t know _anything_ else.”

The officers looked to each other, both a bit disinterested, which only made Bill cry harder. This was the third interview Bill had been dragged to, and now he was sitting in the police station, trying to convince the officers to _please_ take him seriously and find his brother. His parents were in the other room, probably trying to say the same thing.

The first interview, he’d been looked over by several medics; apparently getting knocked out didn’t put him in ideal health. It had been around three or four in the morning, and the police officers were grilling him while, at the same time, doctors poked and prodded at him and asked him to describe how he felt. Bill had burst into hysterical sobs, going straight into a meltdown he couldn’t be pulled out of for a half hour. The second interview had been after his parents had gotten him outside, and several officers were there. And now he was in the police station, talking to yet _more_ cops, and none of them seemed to think they could do anything.

“Please, s-s-send out a call or something.” Bill said, still crying. “Get someone to sk-sketch the guys, or the spyglass. Missing posters for G-Georgie. We have to f-f-find him, he must be s-so scared…”

“Listen, kid,” one of the officers said. “We’ll get to this as soon as possible. Maybe you and your parents can get a head start on the posters.”

“Yeah, we can’t deal with another kidnapped kid right now.” the second officer said.

Bill stared at them, horrified. “My br-brother is _missing_. He’s been _kidnapped._ ”

“We got that, kid. Why don’t you go home? We’ll deal with it once we can.”

“B-b-but…”

The door opened, and Bill’s mother peered in. “Billy. We’re leaving.”

“Mom, they’re not d-d-doing _anything_ -”

“Billy.”

Bill stood up, glaring at the officers. He turned to go, and then, a few feet from the door, he whipped around, fury behind his eyes. “You _s-s-sacks of shit_!”

“ _Billy_!” Sharon Denbrough scolded, grabbing his arm and dragging him off. “I’m sorry for him, Bill, be _nice_.”

“They’re b-b-being assholes!” Bill yelled, as she dragged him down the hall. “They think they’re t-t-too busy for Georgie!”

“They’re doing the best they can.” she said stiffly.

“They’re _not_!”

“Billy, be _quiet_!” Cops, moving around the precinct as they worked, turned to stare.

“No! No, they need to f-”

Sharon finally got him outside, and said, “Billy! They may be a bit rude, but they are doing the best they can to find your brother. Now, your Father’s in the car. We’re going to get in, and be quiet, and once we’re home you can say whatever you want.”

“M-M-Mom-”

“Get _in_ the car.”

Bill stared at her, still pissed, and then eventually slid into the car and buried his head in his knees.

 

The second Bill entered his room, he knew he had to get out.

He was suddenly hit with something that felt like claustrophobia, some kind of panic. He saw Georgie’s boats still on the ground, almost re-heard the automobile backfiring, re-heard Georgie screaming, and he knew he had to leave.

He rushed back down the stairs, past his quiet parents, not even bothering to yell an excuse as he rushed out the door. He grabbed his bike and was pedaling down the road before he could even think about where he was going.

He moved almost instinctively, and before he knew it he was at the arcade. He dropped his bike on the sidewalk, not even caring if someone stole it or pushed it into the street or ran over it or _anything._ He pushed open the door, and immediately spotted Richie, Stan and Eddie in front of a game.

“Come on, come on!” Eddie and Stan were both shouting, as Richie kept pressing buttons.

Bill was still for a second, suddenly hit with just how _loud_ the arcade was, and just how _calm_ everyone else was. How could they be calm? How could they keep _going_? How was the world moving on already, when Georgie was dragged out the window just a few hours ago?

The boys groaned as Richie’s character died, and then Eddie spotted him. “Hey, Bill finally made it!”

“What took ya so long, Big Bill?” Richie asked, spinning around. “I got pretty far before-”

Stan put his arm on Richie’s stopping him for a second. “Bill?” he said, noticing first that he didn’t look good. “Are you okay?”

Bill opened his mouth, struggling to speak. He stepped forwards a bit, intending to walk over, but then someone yelled nearby, and then there was _too_ much noise, and the next thing he knew, he was crumpled on the ground, sobbing.

“Bill!” his friends yelled, and they rushed over, trying to figure out what was wrong, trying to get him to stand up and go somewhere quiet, trying to help.

How the hell were they supposed to help?

 

They finally moved him to the alley between the arcade and some other building, and when he calmed down enough, Stan said, “Are you alright?”

“Are you having a panic attack?” Eddie asked, eyes widening. “Cause I read up on those, and they’re real scary, and I know some breathing exercises-”

“Did ya get overstimulated?” Richie asked, looking sympathetic. “Happened to me before, but not that _bad_ -”

Bill finally spoke up, interrupting them. “G-G-Georgie got kidnapped.”

The boys froze, shock and horror rippling through them. Stan looked like all the breath had been knocked out of his body, while Richie and Eddie both looked completely shell-shocked. Then, Stan said, “You’re shitting me.”

“That can’t have just happened.” Richie said, staring at the wall.

“What… what happened?” Eddie asked, sitting next to Bill and staring at him.

“I… I don’t _know_ … it was r-r-really late, and I just…” Bill struggled to keep from crying again; this was the millionth time he’d recited this story. “I heard him _scream_ , and I- and I went to his room, and these- these people were dr-dragging him out the window."

Stan sat down too, looking blank. Richie kept staring at the wall.

“And I tr-tried to help but they kn-knocked me out, and… and now he’s _gone_ , and I don’t- don’t think the police _care_.”

“Of course they care.” Richie said, almost blankly. “They’re police. This is probably the most interesting case they’ve gotten since I accidentally pulled the fire alarm.”

“Oh, fuck.” Eddie said, shaking slightly. “Oh, fuck, this is bad.” He pulled his inhaler out of his fanny pack as he started to shake.

“What are your parents doing?” Stan asked, looking ahead.

Bill shrugged, choking up a bit on his words. “I-I-I-I-I don’t _kn-know_. They seem… I don’t _know_ , I was m-mostly just t-t-talking to police.”

“How are you?” Stan asked.

In response, Bill curled up and cried some more.

Eddie and Stan both gave him a quick hug, while Richie eventually knelt down and joined in, still looking shocked.

“Is there something we can do?” Stan asked.

Bill paused, instinctively wanting to say _No, that’s fine, I’ll figure something out._ That’s what everyone always said when people asked to help with a tragedy.

But, well… he didn’t think he wanted to say that, and he wasn’t sure why.

“C-c-can we… can we go somewhere?” Bill asked quietly. “Where we can m-m-make mi-missing posters?”

“Okay.” Stan said hesitantly.

“We’ll head over to the Print Shop.” Richie nodded. “We’ll make a million posters-”

“Or we could make one and copy it.” Eddie said. “Split the cost.” He paused. “Just, no one tell my Mom what’s going on, she finds out Georgie got… well, she’s never gonna let me out of the house again.”

“Trust me, if my Dad finds out,” Stan said, “I’ll be stuck, too.”

“I’ll just climb out the window.” Richie said, helping Bill to his feet. “Run away to Bill’s place so we can keep going.”

Bill bit his lip, wondering if they were joking or not. He didn’t think they were, they wouldn’t joke at a time like this…

But still, he was glad at least _they_ were trying to help.

 

“This is all we got.” Richie said.

They’d finally settled on a missing poster, with Bill’s sketch of Georgie across the top, and what he remembered of the spyglass sketched on the bottom. The other boys seemed very interested in it, but Bill couldn’t tell them much, other than he thought the Eye on the lid was basically correctly drawn. They didn’t have much cash, though, which they realized once they pooled their money and looked up at the wall for the copying prices.

“We’re gonna need more than this for all the posters we want.” Stan said.

“No duh, Uris.” Richie said. “Bill, you think we could ask your parents for extra money?”

“M-m-maybe?” Bill said quietly. “I don’t… I don’t know…”

“What’s this?”

The boys jumped, turning around to see Beverly Marsh standing behind them. They stared, gaping for a moment, and then Richie said, “What are _you_ doing here?”

“I have a life, Tozier,” Bev smirked slightly. “Outside of sneaking you cigarettes behind the school. My Mom needs me to copy her resume while she’s at work. What’re you doing?”

“None of your business.” Stan said, eyeing her warily.

“We’re making missing posters.” Eddie said at the same time.

Bill and Stan shot Eddie a glare, as Bev peered over their shoulders. Her face fell when she saw the poster, and she said, “Is that your brother?”

“Y-y-yes.” Bill said.

Bev read the rest of it, looking a little nervous as she read the description. “He got kidnapped?”

“Yeah, we wanna… we wanna try and f-f-find him. Maybe s-s-someone saw him get h-h-hidden somewhere…”

“How many posters are you making?” Bev asked.

“Uh, we were aiming for about… fifty-ish?” Richie said. “But we haven’t got the money-”

Bev glanced up at the poster detailing how much cash was needed, and then reached into her pocket. She then slammed several bills in front of the boys, and said, “Good luck.”

They stared for a second, shocked, and then she promptly turned and walked away.

“What the hell…” Richie said.

“Did she just…” Eddie began, staring from the money to Bev, who walked over to the desk to pick up some copies, before walking out the back door.

After a bit, Stan said, “You smoke with Beverly Marsh behind the school, and you never told us?”

“Why would it be important?”

“Do you guys talk?” Eddie asked. “Did she tell you anything about the… rumors? About her?”

“We don’t talk about shit like that, we smoke and bitch about teachers.” Richie said, turning around and grabbing the makeshift poster. “And it’s not important. Let’s make these posters and put them up.”

“Y-y-yeah.” Bill said, though he was also staring after Bev, feeling very confused. “We need to h-h-hurry, who knows wh-where Georgie is now.”


	3. Ben Hanscom at the Library

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Ben Hanscom at the Library_

 

“It’s been a week.” Richie said, looking up at the missing poster on the window of the pharmacy. “Do you think anyone’s called?”

“If they had, Bill woulda told us.” Eddie said. He glanced at the pharmacy door and then said, “Maybe you could ask around about Georgie? While we’re in there.”

“I don’t see what anyone would say.” Richie said quietly. “I mean, these posters are everywhere, I doubt people would just ignore them until I-”

“We could do _something_.” Eddie said. “I mean, Bill’s a _mess_ , we should try to help as much as we can, you know?”

Richie bit his lip and nodded. “You talk to him today?”

“I think he’s trying to badger the police again. If he’s not careful, they’re gonna arrest him for not leaving them alone.”

Richie nodded, as Eddie said, “Remember, you don’t talk. We don’t wanna piss off Mr. Keene while I’m trying to get my medication, and we’ve only got a few minutes before we have to meet the others at the Quarry.”

“Are you sure you’re out? You just picked some up last week.” Richie said.

“Some of the pills went down the sink drain when the cabinet fell.” Eddie said. “I wanna make sure I have enough, just in case, you know?”

“Yeah, sure.” Richie said. “And I will make an attempt to shut the fuck up.”

They finally walked into the Pharmacy, followed closely by his friend. As Eddie ran up to the counter, Richie slowly moved between aisles, looking for something to occupy his time. Maybe he could find some snacks to bring to the other boys, or some kind of card game, or he could swipe some cigarettes…

He turned to the final aisle, and saw Bev standing in front of a shelf, staring intently. He paused for a second, having that momentary panic everybody gets when somebody they only see at school is suddenly released into public, before taking a deep breath and rushing up. “Hey, Marsh!”

Bev jumped, sudden panic in her eyes, as Richie slid next to her. “Whatcha shoppin for?”

He turned, and then saw the shelf was filled with boxes of tampons.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, my Mom’s out of town so I’ve gotta buy this myself.” Bev said, a little quietly, her face turning red.

Richie paused, and then said, “Well, uh, sorry about that.” He paused, and then said, “Hey, uh, thanks for the missing poster money. We can pay you back once we-”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Bev said, smiling slightly. “My Mom gave me way too much for copying her resumes anyway, so… she won’t miss the money, I don’t think. Have… have you heard anything? About Bill’s brother?”

“Uh, no, but… hopefully something’ll turn up.” Richie said.

“Yeah. Uh, good luck with that…”

Eddie ran into the aisle, saying, “Okay, I got everything, let’s…” he paused upon seeing Bev, turning a bit pale.

Bev glanced at him, her face falling, and she said, “Uh, see you later, Rich.”

“May we meet again soon, Ms. Marsh.” Richie did a mock bow, and Bev giggled a little as she grabbed a box off of the shelf and walked away.

“How the hell are you friends with her?” Eddie asked quietly.

“I’m pretty sure she’s not a serial killer,” Richie said, “So I figure I’m safe. Plus, she’s a good guy. Now, let’s get to the Quarry before Stan and Bill do something really stupid.”

 

Ben was basically hidden by the table of books he sat at, and he didn’t really see the problem in that. Nobody would want to talk to him anyway, and his Mom was at work, so he might as well just get some reading done until the librarians kicked him out.

He’d grabbed every book on the history of Derry and dropped them on the desk, and got to reading. He enjoyed learning the history of towns he moved to; his Mom’s job often took them from place to place. So it was fun to learn a lot about places all around the country. Find out what was going on in the town he’d be stuck in for a bit.

But lately, some other books had drawn his attention. Every now and again, in whatever Library he visited, he would pass by the children’s section to get to the History, and he’d see some books that drew his eye-

“Shit!”

Ben looked up sharply, seeing a tall boy trip over a carpet and quietly curse as he took a spill. He stood up suddenly, watching to see if he was hurt, but the boy quickly jumped up and ran to the shelves; Ben noticed quickly that it was the same shelf he’d grabbed the History books from. Slowly, he looked back down at the book in front of him on the table, full of old newspaper clippings of major events. Currently, he was reading up on some sort of string of arsons that had been put out by two visitors to the town, sometime several decades ago, before his Mom had even been born. There seemed to be a lot of arson near the town, now that he thought about it.

“Are you gonna read this?”

Ben jumped and looked up. The tall boy who’d tripped earlier was standing by the desk, pointing at one of the History books in the pile.

“Uh… maybe?” Ben said quietly. “I mean, if I get to it today… why? Do you want it?” The boy hesitated, and Ben added, “It’s okay, I probably won’t get through all of these today anyway.”

“If… if it’s no trouble…”

“Oh, no.” Ben said quickly. After a moment, as the boy took the book from the pile, he said, “Are you in any of my classes?”

“What?”

“You know, at the middle school? I don’t think I’ve seen you before, but…”

“Oh, I’m homeschooled.” the boy said quickly.

“Oh.” Ben said. “Is that fun?”

“Kinda?” the boy said. “I used to go to a Private School but that didn’t really work out, I guess I like this better.”

“Oh.” Ben said, a bit awkwardly. “Well, I’m Ben Hanscom.”

“Mike Hanlon.”

“Do you live nearby?”

“I’m on a farm just outside of town. But I wanted to get some books for some extra reading.”

“That’s a good idea.” Ben said. “Books are the best way to pass the time.”

“I’d have to agree.” Mike said, smiling slightly. “A Library is like an island in a vast sea of ignorance.”

“Particularly if that Library is tall,” Ben said, laughing a little, “And the surrounding area is flooded.”

Mike laughed a little too, and then slid the book under his arm. “I should go, before I’m missed. Maybe I’ll see you here again.”

“I’m basically always here, so that’s quite likely.” Ben said.

Mike gave him a smile, and then walked off, holding the book as if it was his most prized possession. Ben watched him go, and then turned back to the History book.

Huh, he might have just made a friend. That was new. Nobody had actually talked to him since Beverly Marsh the week before, and he wasn’t sure she was the kind to be making friends; maybe he could talk to Mike, maybe they could share books, maybe they could be friends, at least until Ben had to leave again.

Just as he got back to his book, he saw a blur of a boy rush by, also running to the history shelf. He turned, staring, as Bill Denbrough scoured the shelf, pulling out select books.

Ben stared after him, suddenly very confused. He only barely knew Bill from class, and from the recent rumors about his brother.

“Do you need any help?” he asked, raising his voice just slightly.

Bill jumped, turning to Ben, his eyes darting between the boy and pile of books. Finally, he said, “N-n-no, th-thanks,” and grabbed a few books from the end of the shelf, before rushing back out.

Ben stared after him, now utterly bewildered. Was History suddenly a very popular subject?

 

“Where the _hell_ have you been?” Stan asked.

Bill slid to a stop in the Quarry, looking at his friends, who were all looking very concerned.

“We thought you’d done something stupid.” Richie said.

“Why are you so late?” Eddie asked. “Did something happen?”

Bill sat down in the grass beside them, and slammed five history books on the ground.

“We have some w-w-w-work to do.”

 

Bill had gotten the idea when he was at the Police Station again.

He’d been told, once again, that the Police were doing everything they could, and to shut up and let them handle it, and that of course they were still investigating.

And then one of the officers had said something that stuck with him.

“God, you act like this is the only kid who’s ever gone missing in Derry.”

The way he’d said that… almost as if Bill had been asking him about something as common as kids falling off a bike and scraping their knees, not a child being abducted in the middle of the night.

And then Bill went to the stores where they’d put up missing posters of Georgie, and looked under fliers pasted next to them. He’d also gone to alleys inbetween buildings, where people usually put up papers. And he’d seen a _hell_ of a lot more missing children posters than he’d expected.

And now they all had books spread out between them, and Eddie said, “Are you sure, Bill? Like, ‘a lot’ isn’t code for ‘three or four’, right?”

“There are t-t-t-tons of miss… missing kids.” Bill said. “The d-d-dates are pretty recent, all from the l-last few years. I g-g-got recent History books, I th-think.”

“What are we looking for again?” Stan asked, picking up a book.

“K-k-kidnappings.” Bill said. “These b-books tend to have n-newspaper clippings, at least fr… from what I remember.”

The boys glanced at each other, sharing a look that Bill immediately recognized and immediately hated. It was the _Let’s Humor Him_ look, the look the police officers gave each other, the look the teachers gave when he tried to collect homework for Georgie and swore they’d find him soon, the look his parents gave when he tried to talk to them at dinner.

But he wasn’t about to call them out on it now. Maybe they’d see he was right.

“Okay, Denbrough.” Stan said, picking up a book. “Let’s see what’s here.”

 

Ben knew he could only check out five books at a time, so he picked five history books and started towards the front of the library.

He passed the children’s section, and paused, scanning the shelves. Perhaps they wouldn’t have them, maybe it’d just be…

Oh, shit. They _were_ right there. And he hadn’t seen _that_ title before.

Ben Hanscom approached the checkout, and plopped five books on the counter. The Librarian watched him for a second, and then scanned them.

_A Brief History of Derry._

_Derry Architecture._

_History of Derry Township._

_A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Slippery Slope._

_Derry, 1400-1500._

Ben took his books, thanked the Librarian, and hurried home.


	4. Ben Hanscom Makes Some Friends

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Ben Hanscom Makes Some Friends_

 

Bill could tell his friends were bored out of their minds.

Richie was the least focused- which was common for him- and was constantly glancing every which way for something more interesting. He was never very good at doing assigned reading, especially for boring things. Eddie and Stan were working a bit harder, but when he looked towards them, he could see their eyes glaze over on occasion.

After several long, silent minutes passed- perhaps hours, none of them were very sure- Richie said, “Bill, maybe you should find a Historian or something.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Derry History books would report random child abductions very often.” Eddie said, a little quietly.

“M-m-maybe there’s an index.” Bill said.

“I checked mine, the only abductions listed are for political figures.” Stan said quickly. “Maybe you could ask a Librarian.”

“They don’t l-l-like me.” Bill said hesitantly. “I keep for… forgetting to return books.”

“They like me fine, I could go ask.” Stan said.

“D’ya think they’ve got police files in the library?” Richie suggested. “That could be useful.”

“I doubt it.” Eddie said. “They might have old newspapers.”

“They definitely do,” Richie said, “But you’d have to know specific dates, and I do _not_ have the patience to go through every newspaper looking for child abductions. Like I said, Big Bill, you gotta just find a Historian.”

“I don’t… don’t know any historians.” Bill said. “Even our… our History teacher is just g-g-general hi-history. N-not Derry specifical… specifically.” He paused, then, and said, “Wa-wait. Richie, you know the- the new kid?”

“Haystack?”

“He wants to know his real name, Rich.” Eddie asked, glaring at Richie.

“Ben Hanscom. He’s pretty cool, but doesn’t talk much.” Richie said.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t talk to you cause you won’t shut up.” Stan suggested.

“You wound me, fair sir.” Richie said, mockingly putting a hand over his heart.

“He was at- at the library.” Bill said. “He had a lot of history books.”

“You want to ask the New Kid to tell you about child abductions?” Stan asked hesitantly.

“I mean, what could… could go wrong?” Bill said. “He doesn’t… know anything, we just move on.”

“Well, if you wanna track him down, we better do it soon, it’s almost dark.” Eddie said.

“He mi-might still be at the Library.” Bill suggested.

“Or he might not.” Stan said.

“Or he might have to get home before his parents worry about him.” Eddie added, reaching for his inhaler slightly.

“You could ask him tomorrow.” Stan suggested. “Maybe he’ll be at the Library again.”

“If all else fails, you can ask him after school Monday.” Richie added.

Bill hesitated, saying, “I don’t want to wait.”

“We’ll hang out at the Library all day if we have to.” Eddie said supportively.

“Do we have to?” Richie whispered, eyes wide at the prospect of sitting in one place surrounded by books for an entire day.

Eddie gave him a glare, and then said, “Don’t worry, Bill.”

“But also don’t get your hopes _that_ high.” Richie added, and when everyone glared at him, he said, “What? There’s not a great chance Ben’s a nerd who spends every day at the _Library_. He’s gotta have a social life.”

 

“Holy shit, this kid has no social life.”

The boys had arrived at the Library early to drop off Bill’s books- or at least, that was the excuse they used- and they asked the Librarian if their “good friend Ben” was in that day. She’d explained he always sat in the History section over the weekends, and sure enough, they could see him down the aisle.

“Well, let’s go ask him.” Eddie said.

Bill hesitated. It had seemed like a good idea yesterday, to ask a kid in his class if he knew anything about child abductions in Derry History, but now that he was standing here…

“Maybe we should…”

“For fuck’s sake.” Richie muttered, and then he walked straight up to Ben as the other boys whisper-called after him. “Hey, Haystack!”

Ben looked up, shocked, as Richie stood in front of the table, pushing books aside so he could see him face-to-face. “You’re in our grade, right? Hanscom?”

“Uh… yeah.” Ben said, noticing the other boys at the end of the aisle, trying not to look terrified. “Yeah, Ben, you know-”

“Richie Tozier.” Richie introduced. “You like History, right?”

“...yeah?” Ben glanced at the books, looking as if he was wondering if this was some sort of trap.

“Kay, well, Bill wants to ask you some questions.” Richie said, stepping back and waiting. Bill finally walked up, and Stan and Eddie went over to Richie.

“Jesus, Rich, that was pretty upfront.” Eddie muttered.

“Sometimes you just gotta go for it, Eds.”

“Don’t call me-”

“Um…” Bill began. “You, um… are you researching the… this history of Derry?”

“Yeah, actually.” Ben said, glancing around nervously.

Bill bit his lip, then spat out, “Do you know much about child abductions?”

Ben stared at him for a second, and they all knew he knew about Bill’s brother. He hadn’t exactly been quiet about it, even around school.

But to their surprise, he said, “Actually… yes.”

“You… you _do_?” Stan asked, shocked and a little scared.

“What do you know?” Bill asked quickly.

Ben paused. “It’s a bit… odd.”

“We hang around Richie all day.” Stan said dryly. “Nothing’s odd to us.”

Richie jokingly flipped him off. “Well, if you feel that way, Stannie, I’ll just go spend all my time with Beverly Marsh.”

“Are you _kidding_?” Eddie turned, glaring at him. “It’s bad enough that you smoke with her-”

“What’s wrong with Beverly Marsh?” Ben asked, sounding very confused. “She doesn’t seem so bad?”

The boys stared at him. “Nobody told you?” Stan asked.

“Told me what?” Ben asked.

“Shut up, Stan, everyone knows Gretta Keene started that rumor because she thinks Bev’s prettier than her.” Richie said. “Which, to be fair, she _is_.”

“What rumor?” Ben asked again.

The boys glanced at each other, and then Eddie leaned over and whispered. “They say she lives with her Mom, because in the last town… she killed her Dad.”

Ben stared at him disbelievingly. “That’s not true.”

“Told you!” Richie said.

“It could be.” Stan replied.

“I d-d-don’t think so.” Bill said.

“They say he got real pissed at her for something,” Eddie said, “And she snapped and beat the shit outta him until he bled out on the floor. My Mom freaked when she heard that-”

“Your Mom freaks about everything.” Richie said.

“Anyway, apparently they didn’t have enough evidence to convict her, but everyone at school thinks she did it. She’s never denied it.”

“Has anyone ever _asked_ her?” Ben asked.

“I dunno, she’s just never said-”

“What do you ex-expect her to do?” Bill asked, glaring at him. “Go up- up on stage at Lunch and… and say, ‘H-h-hi, Everyone! I did-didn’t kill anyone! Pl-please leave me the _fuck_ alone.’”

“She doesn’t seem like the killing type.” Richie said. “She’s a good guy, really.”

“She seems nice.” Ben said.

“And this… this isn’t important.” Bill said. He turned back to Ben. “We were… were talking ab-about my br-brother. What do… do you know?”

Ben quietly said, “I’ve got some notes at my house, do you… are you guys free to come?”

“Of course.” Bill said, looking excited, as well as a bit relieved- _finally_ , he had a lead.

“Okay!” Ben said, his eyes lighting up. “Okay, uh, my Mom’s not home, I hope you guys don’t mind, she’s at work a lot.”

“That’s fine.” Stan said off-handedly.

“Great!” Ben stood up, beaming. “Let me put these books back, and we can go!”

 

Ben unlocked the front door, saying, “Sorry if my room’s a bit of a mess, I haven’t had people over… you know, in a while.”

Richie mouthed something to Stan, which made him roll his eyes, but smile slightly.

Ben opened the door and raced up the stairs, the boys slowly following. There were still cardboard boxes in the halls and under the stairs, and none of the furniture or wall hangings looked very personalized. They’d very clearly just moved in.

They found their way to Ben’s room, where he shut the closet door and said, “I’ve got it all on this wall over here.”

“Holy fuck.” Richie said under his breath, and Stan said something similar.

Ben had set up a wall on the side of his room that looked like what Eddie had once dubbed a _Chaos Map_ , but what Bill was pretty sure was actually called a _Conspiracy Board_. It spanned the wall, and several pictures, newspaper clippings, and copied pages from Library Books were strung up, pinned to the wall in a wild pattern.

“Do you… do this with every town you move to?” Stan asked cautiously.

“Yeah, kinda.” Ben said hesitantly. “It’s an interest.”

“Conspiracies?”

“Well, town history, but you can find a conspiracy basically anywhere.” Ben said simply.

“This is so wild.” Richie said, walking over to a newspaper clipping and flipping it.

“Anyway,” Ben said, moving to a side of the wall, “Bill, your brother’s the most recent kidnapping. However, lots of kids actually end up disappearing in town, but it’s very staggered, so you wouldn’t notice it’s a pattern unless you set one of these up. But compared to the national average, _way_ more kids disappear here than you’d think. Even more than adults.”

“Well, that’s comforting.” Eddie said, reaching for his inhaler.

“Are you sure this is all… necessary?” Stan asked, walking over to stare at the pages. “I mean… I’m sure kids go missing all the time.”

“Sure. In big cities.” Ben said. “This is a mainly suburban town, there shouldn’t be as many kidnappings and disappearances as there are.”

“How f-f-far back does this g-go?” Bill asked.

“Uh, I managed to get it back a couple decades.” Ben said. “There’s more, over a century of stuff like this, but it won’t all fit.”

“What’s this?” Eddie asked, noticing that one report of two kidnapped siblings was attached to a copied photo of a housefire.

“Their house burned down the night after they vanished.” Ben said. “It was blamed on the parents going nuts, but a couple other, similar fires were started-”

“It might just be a coincidence, our electric company sucks ass.” Richie said. He wasn’t paying much attention, instead scanning the pictures for anything of interest. “The elevators keep going out of order, a lot of houses catch fire because the wiring is shit-”

“Our telegram office half-burned last month.” Stan pointed out. “Remember? The telegram machine just burst.”

“Yeah, and now I’m not allowed anywhere near those things.” Eddie said.

“You weren’t allowed near them anyway.” Richie reminded him.

“Why not?” Ben asked, looking confused.

“Mom says they give you cancer,” Eddie explained, “But I think she was just scared I’d make a long-distance friend and ditch her for them.”

“Ben,” Bill interrupted. “Have you ever seen…?”

He paused, and then grabbed a scratch sheet of paper from Ben’s sidetable. He picked a pencil up off the desk and sketched, and then passed the note to Ben. Stan, Richie and Eddie caught a glimpse of it; it was the sketch of the spyglass.

“It looks like a telescope.” Ben said carefully.

“Spyglass.” Bill corrected. “I… I think it had some…. some kind of eye on it, b-b-but I was kn-knocked out pre-pretty hard, I might’ve ima… imagined it…”

“An eye?” Ben looked up.

“What’s this?” Stan suddenly said, pointing at a photo.

They turned, seeing that he was pointing to a picture of some kind of old building.

“Oh, that was Derry’s wellhouse.” Ben said. “It’s the oldest thing I’ve got on that wall.”

“We don’t have a wellhouse.” Eddie said quickly.

“Apparently w-we used t-t-to.” Bill said.

“Yeah, another fire.” Ben said. “Got blamed on an angry mob, apparently something weird went down over there, but the papers were very vague about it.”

“Where was it?” Richie asked, looking at the picture curiously.

“Dunno, somewhere in town. Couldn’t find a map that old.”

“B-Ben,” Bill said, looking at a photocopied missing poster from a few years back, “Wh-what you’re saying i-is… is kids get ki-kidnapped a lot here?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think it’s just cause our police suck?” Richie asked. “I mean, the only one who was a decent fucking human being was that Irish guy who got transferred last year.”

“It’s possible.” Ben said carefully. “I mean, the other option is…”

“Wh-what?” Bill asked.

Ben paused. “The other option is that someone important is kidnapping Derry kids for something, and they’re important enough that nobody investigates. But that’s just a dumb conspiracy, I don’t-”

“It’s n-not a bad one.” Bill muttered, glancing down at the paper with the spyglass.

“Yeah, but it’s freaking me out.” Eddie said.

“It’s not perfect, it doesn’t explain why the investigations have rarely been solved for over a century,” Ben said. “Nobody could be alive that long, maybe it’s a chain of people, or-”

“Shit,” Stan said, “You don’t think we’d be targets, do you?”

They glanced at each other, and Richie said, “Come on, guys, listen to us. Georgie was probably just kidnapped for ransom or something, Bill’s parents have money and shit. We’re not gonna get abducted for… whatever shit this is.”

“If there _is_ some conspiracy,” Stan said, turning to Bill with a hint of concern in his eyes, “You’re drawing a lot of attention to it, Bill.”

“Wh-what does th-that mean?” Bill asked.

“It means they’d want to shut you up.”

“Oh, Jesus.” Eddie said, eyes widening.

Ben bit his lip and turned to Bill, who simply stared at Stan. Finally, he said, “I’m not g-going to stop… stop looking for Georgie.”

“I know, but… maybe you should do it a bit more quietly.” Stan said. “We… we really don’t want you disappearing, too.” He turned to Ben, and then said, “You also should probably make sure nobody knows you’re doing… this.” He gestured haplessly to the wall.

“Oh, nobody does.” Ben said, sounding oddly distant as he stared at Stan. “My Mom never comes in here, the Librarians don’t pay attention to what I check out…”

“What about your Dad?” Richie asked.

Bill and Eddie, who were much better at reading context clues than Richie, immediately glared at him and waved their hands wildly, trying to shut him up, while Stan just put his head in his hands.

Ben said, a little awkwardly, “Oh, he died before I was born.”

“Oh, shit.” Richie said.

“Sorry about him, he’s an idiot.” Stan groaned.

“Am not.” Richie said.

“Maybe…” Bill said carefully. “Maybe we should g-go back to the li-library. See if we can… can find something on these sp-spyglasses.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Ben said. “We can check out some books on common spyglasses and head back here, if you guys want.”

Stan and Richie didn’t look too thrilled by the idea, but they both hesitantly nodded. Eddie was staring distractedly at something on the wall, and jumped when Bill said “Come on, let’s g-g-g-go back to the Li-Library.”

The boys left, hoping to get to the Library and back again as fast as possible. Eddie paused, however, grabbing Ben’s hand to stop him for a second.

“I… I’m sorry if this is a bad question…” he said nervously.

Ben turned around, watching him with concern. “What? Is something wrong? Did I-”

“No, no, it’s…” Eddie took a deep breath. “How did your Dad die? My… my Dad died when I was five, I don’t…” He shut his eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t-”

“I… it’s alright.” Ben said. “I’m… sorry about that. And…” he paused, thinking hard. “I… I don’t know, guess I never asked.”

Eddie sighed, glancing back at the wall worriedly. After a moment, Ben said, “What… what about your Dad?”

Eddie kept staring at the wall, and then, in a very worried voice, he said, “He died in a fire.”


	5. Beverly Marsh is a Cryptid

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_Beverly Marsh is a Cryptid_

 

Bev was smoking behind the pharmacy again.

She couldn’t smoke at home, that was for damn sure, and she found that she was rarely caught if she was behind this building. The only people who went back there were Mr. Keene and his daughter, when they needed to take out the trash. The only other place she could really smoke was behind the school, but that was because Richie Tozier would cover for her if need be. It’s not as if any of the kids minded, anyway.

She suddenly jumped, hearing the door open. She quickly dropped the cigarette, hiding it behind her skirt, as she turned to look and see who was there.

A boy she didn’t recognize paused, staring at her, before saying, “Sorry, I… I didn’t think anyone was back here.”

“‘s alright.” Bev shrugged, as the boy closed the door and leaned against the wall, pulling a book out of his bag. “This isn’t my property or anything. What are you here for?”

“It was too loud in there.” the boy said quietly. “I just want to read a little while my… while my family picks up our stuff.”

“Hmm.” Bev said. As he flipped a few pages in his book, she asked, “Hey, wanna cigarette?”

The boy jumped, turning around with a panic behind his eyes. “What?”

Bev pulled a box of cigarettes out of her pocket, deciding not to mention that she’d stolen said box from the pharmacy they were behind. The boy stared at her, still looking panicked, before saying, “Um… no?”

“Alright.” Bev shrugged, putting the box back and lifting her own cigarette.

“You know,” the boy said hesitantly, “That’s a bad habit.”

“Probably.” Bev said. She looked at the boy, and then said, “Hey, do I know you?”

“Probably not.” he said. “I don’t go to the school, so…”

_Oh, so he doesn’t know me._

“Well, I’m Bev.”

“Mike.”

“You live around here?”

“Just outside of town. We have a family farm.”

“Is it nice?” Bev didn’t know exactly why she was talking to this boy; maybe it was because he was the only one outside of Richie and that Ben Hanscom kid that didn’t hate her.

“Yeah. It’s quiet, I like the animals.” Mike smiled slightly. “We have lots of books.”

“Oh, you’re a reader?”

Mike nodded. “History, mainly. It was my Dad’s interest.”

Bev bit her lip, stocking that “was” away in her mind and deciding not to mention it at the moment. “I’m more of a designer.” she admitted. “But I’d love to live on a farm. Nice and quiet, huh?”

“Very quiet.”

“Bet people don’t bother you out there.”

Mike glanced at her. “People bother you here?”

“You could say that.” Bev smiled ruefully. “I’ve got a bad reputation.”

Mike paused, and then said, “So are you smoking to _keep up_ that image, or-”

Bev laughed, smiling brightly as she leaned against the wall. Mike smiled a bit, too, and she said, “Maybe. I dunno, like you said, it’s a habit.”

“And like I said, it’s not a good one.”

Bev smiled slightly. “Yeah. Probably. Everyone’s got bad habits, though, right?”

Mike’s smile dropped, and he glanced down at the book, saying, “Yeah.”

Bev’s gaze flickered to the book. “So. What part of Derry History are you reading up on?”

“Ah. Fire at the Black Spot. You know that one?”

Bev shook her head. “Not covered in the textbooks, I guess.”

“You do any reading outside of textbooks?”

“Hmm, not as much as I should.”

“What do you read?”

“Mysteries.” she finally said. That wasn’t a lie. She _loved_ Nancy Drew, not that she could ever explain why.

“Why?”

“Cause I am, in of myself, a mystery.” Bev smirked. “Ask anyone in town, they’ll all have different stories about me.”

“What? Are you a ghost?”

“Boo.” Bev joked, then said, “I’m just not one to talk about myself.”

“You’re talking to me.”

“Because you don’t know me.”

That wasn’t why. It was because he didn’t have a preconceived idea of her. He didn’t know what they said about her.

And he didn’t know which stories were true.

She took another glance at his book, and then said, “Hey, Mike, I-”

The door opened, and Bev quickly hid the cigarette again. An adult she didn’t know peered out and said, “Mike, we’re ready to leave.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Mike said, glancing at Bev. “Just exchanging book recommendations. I’ll see you around, Bev.”

“See you round, Mike.”

The second he was gone, Bev leaned against the wall and groaned. Had she said too much? Had she weirded him out?

She hasn’t talked this much while walking home with Ben last week. Sure, they’d _talked_ , but they’d talked about homework, how much they hated their teachers, how fun the poetry segments had been, how cool it was she got to skip gym because her Mom wrote her a note… actually, she probably shouldn’t have told him that, if he blabbed it was fake… but she felt like she could trust Ben Hanscom. She knew who she could trust very quickly, she thought. And she felt like she could trust Mike. What could _he_ have to hide, anyway?

 

“He th-th-thrusts… he thrusts his f-f-f- _fuck_ …”

Bill was biking home alone today, as the others had slowly left the library before him. He was the last one, there until he got too many odd looks from other people in the Library, until the sky started getting dark, until more than one Librarian asked him if his parents were expecting him home.

He’d hoped he’d have something to tell them by the time he got back. But he had nothing, other than “maybe the police are crooked.” As if they’d care about that.

He unlocked his door, walking in and hanging up the key. He kicked off his shoes, hung up his jacket, and called, “I’m h-home!”

They didn’t seem to care. They hadn’t, even before Georgie had…

Bill passed through the kitchen, where his Mom was reading something at the table. He grabbed a snack bag, and said, “I’m b-b-back. We went to the ar-arcade.”

She _hmm_ ed and didn’t say anything.

“Did you he-hear anything? About…”

She shook her head.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Work.”

Well, at least that was a word. He hadn’t gotten that a lot in the last week.

“Okay. I’m gonna… do homework.”

She nodded, and he went up to his room, and pulled out his books, and stared at them on his desk for five minutes without moving.

How did they expect him to still do homework now? Still care about science or math or whatever bullshit they needed him to study? Georgie was missing, God only knew where he was now, and it almost seemed like nobody wanted him to be found.

He sighed, picking up a pencil and flipping it in his hand.

“He thrusts his f-f-f-f… he th-th-thrusts…”

 

Bev passed by a missing poster for Georgie as she walked home. She paused, looking over the drawing again and feeling dread build up in her stomach. She probably shouldn’t have just slammed some cash in front of the boys and left, in fact, she probably shouldn’t have given them the money at all, she could’ve used that…

No. No, Bill was clearly distressed. He got into more fights with the teachers in the last week than she ever had in her life. Every time she snuck a glance at him in class, he looked so sad, so distracted. He needed this, he needed hope that his brother would come back.

Her eyes drifted to the bottom of the page, where a sketch of a spyglass was drawn, with the words _Abductor was seen Carrying This_. She bit her lip as she studied it; it wasn’t a very detailed drawing, she doubted it could be of much use. There weren’t many physical descriptors of the captors, either; Bill hadn’t been able to remember much, it seemed, which she didn’t blame him for, he’d been through a lot of trauma, his memory of the incident wouldn’t be the best.

She was about to leave when she heard a call behind her.

“Well, well, look who it is!”

Shit.

Bev turned, seeing that Gretta and her friends were walking down the street, having caught sight of her. She really hated this girl, could always hear her whispering behind her back in class. She gave Gretta some credit, she wasn’t afraid of her. But she still hated her, which wasn’t exactly a step up.

“Not today, Gretta.” Bev said. “It’s Saturday, ‘let’s shit on Bev days’ take a break on weekends.”

She turned to go, and heard Gretta’s right-hand girl, Sally something-or-other, say, “Lookin at the posters, Bevvy? Think your face will be up there someday?”

Bev froze, shutting her eyes and clenching her fists.

“Which one’s that, Stuttering Bill’s brother?” Marcia asked.

“Yeah, wonder who’d want _him_.” Sally scoffed.

Bev shut her eyes, trying to will herself to keep walking, to ignore them, until Gretta smirked and said the thing Bev had been dreading.

“Ooh, maybe Beverly knows where he went. Did you kill him, too?”

Bev took in a sharp breath as she paled.

“I bet that’s what happened.” Gretta said. “I bet you killed him. Where’d you hide the body? In the dumpster where you got your clothes?”

“Maybe we should tell Stuttering Bill to go look there.” Sally added.

“Well, he gets his clothes from the same place, so if he hasn’t found him yet-” Gretta began.

Bev clenched her fists again, fury rising inside of her. Slowly, she turned, her face falling into a passive expression. She could take insults, she knew how to do that. But to bring Bill into this, when he already went through enough…

“Oh, she’s going to cry.” Marcia said.

Was she? Bev didn’t know, and she didn’t care. She took a deep breath and walked straight up to the girls, so she was close enough to Gretta to count her freckles if she wanted. The other girls backed up. Gretta didn’t, staring at her, daring her to do something.

She considered punching her. She was a much better fighter than a lot of people thought, even if her specialty was in range weapons. But then Gretta would just go cry to her Dad, and they couldn’t have that.

But she did really want this girl to shut up.

“You want to know something, Gretta?” Bev said, surprising herself with just how calm her voice was.

Gretta paused, clearly not expecting this. However, she quickly recovered herself, snarkily asking, “What?”

Bev looked her dead in the eye, and said, “The rumors about me? They’re all true.” As Marcia and Sally both flinched, suddenly looking terrified, Bev said, “I _did_ kill my Dad.”

This definitely threw the girls off; she knew from the start they never believed the rumors that one of the kids who’d overheard the wrong conversation had started. How could such a small, cute girl murder a grown man in cold blood? Her own _father_? And then escape the police? Surely someone would arrest a murderer? Besides, Bev rarely stood up for herself, letting the verbal abuse hit her and crying when nobody was looking. A murderer wouldn’t do that. But it was a taunt they could use against her, a free verbal projectile.

But now that Bev told them it was true, she could see them all slowly realize what they’d gotten themselves into.

She felt her fury energize her, as she continued, “I killed him. And the adults all think it was an accident. That’s what I told everyone. And they all believe me. How many do you think will believe you?”

The girls stared at her, all with dawning horror still growing on their faces. Bev still glared at them, and then she finally said, “This is your final warning, girls. Stay the _fuck_ away from me.”

She spun on her heels and walked away, leaving the dumbstruck girls behind her.

And the second she turned the corner, she burst into tears.


	6. Eddie Kaspbrak does some Digging

**CHAPTER SIX**

_Eddie Kaspbrak does some Digging_

 

Eddie waited until his Mom shut the door to run for the phone.

Sunday had started out normally- he’d sat through the morning with his Mom, he took whatever medication he needed, and then she left to go visit her sisters- usually, he’d go with her, but he informed her that he had a lot of homework and that he didn’t want to risk getting dirty anyway, and he wouldn’t leave the house, he promised.

The second she left, he called up Ben.

“Alright, she’s gone.” he said. “Can you come over?”

“Yeah.” Ben said. They’d talked about doing this yesterday, but Eddie hadn’t been completely sure he could avoid the visit to his Aunts. “Anyone else coming?”

“Bill was going back to the Library to see if they had more spyglass books, and Stan has to do something with his parents. I’d call Richie but he’s not great at finding things or focusing on one topic at a time, and besides, my Mom hates him, if she found out he was here she’d murder him, and then me. She doesn’t know you so you’ve got a chance.”

“Comforting.” Ben quipped. “I’ll be over in a bit.”

Ten minutes later, Ben arrived, and he and Eddie locked the door before running up to the attic.

“We should have until tonight.” Eddie said, pushing the door open. “But we should work fast anyway. Never know if she’ll change her mind and come home, and then we’ll have to sneak you out the window.”

“Have the others climbed out your window before?” Ben asked hesitantly.

“Oh, yeah.” Eddie said, as he led Ben up the staircase. “Richie’s the best at it, Stan and Bill keep falling over. But Mom likes Bill best, so he only sneaks out when I know for a fact I’m not supposed to have friends over. You know how it is.”

“Not really.” Ben said. “I mean, my Mom might be _upset_ if I invited kids over without telling her, but I don’t think she’d get pissed or anything.”

“Lucky.” Eddie said, and he opened the door that led to the attic stairs. “Come on, she’ll have hidden this stuff real well.”

 

“We’re looking for anything belonging to Frank Kaspbrak.” Eddie said, dropping a box in front of Ben. “Or looking like it belongs to an adult guy. I don’t _think_ she’d have anything from my Grandparents, so really anything could be his.”

“How long has it been since you’ve been up here?” Ben asked.

“Richie and I snuck up when we were seven, and I got screamed at for like an hour when we got caught. We didn’t find anything but old blankets anyway.”

“Hmm.” Ben said, as he opened the box and stared down at a bunch of old clothes. “Looking for your Dad’s stuff, then, to see if there’s a reason he died in a fire.”

“And if it’s connected to your whole child abduction theory.” Eddie said. “Which it probably won’t be, but Stan says the best way to get over paranoia is to prove to yourself that it’s useless.” Eddie picked up another box, tossing it once he saw it was full of old schoolbooks. “That’s what he said when I told him I thought the arcade games might explode and kill us all.”

“Yeah, I doubt that’s very likely.” Ben nodded.

They continued through boxes for a bit, eventually moving the conversation to random things. Ben talked about how he was catching up fine in school, they talked about similar books they’d read, and how they both really wanted to go see that new movie next weekend, though Eddie mentioned he might not be able to get out of a visit two weeks in a row.

“My Aunts are super annoying.” Eddie said. “Treat me like a baby, you know?”

“My Aunt hates me.” Ben said. “I’d rather be treated like a baby than have to deal with one of her rants on how I’m ruining my Mom’s life by existing.”

“Yeah, well, if my Aunts hated me, my Mom probably wouldn’t make me go visit them.”

“Maybe we could trade,” Ben joked, opening up another box.

“Yeah. We could forge hospital documents and pretend we were switched at birth.”

Ben paused, as he looked inside his box. “Uh, that might be hard.” Eddie turned, as Ben pulled a photograph out, and said, “You sure look a lot like your Dad.”

Eddie rushed over, taking the photograph from Ben and staring at it. It was a wedding photo of his parents, and quietly, he said, “Huh. I kinda do.”

They looked into the rest of the box, seeing a lot of clothes and book packed away, with a few trinkets here or there. Eddie lifted a snowglobe, saying, “You think this is his stuff?”

“You tell me.” Ben said, lifting a shirt. “I mean, this seems like an adult guy’s.”

“I remember this book.” Eddie said, placing the snowglobe beside him and picking up a small book. “ _Sleepy Hollow._ I forgot about this for so long, God, I was terrified of the horseman for _weeks_.”

“What’s this?” Ben asked, picking up a small container. They opened it, seeing a collection of jewelry.

“Dunno.” Eddie said. “Maybe he was a collector?”

“I like this book.” Ben said, holding up something that looked Russian. “But he’s got the original language, that’s pretty cool. I’d love to have something like that.”

“You can probably take it.” Eddie said. “Mom doesn’t ever go up here, she probably doesn’t even remember what’s in this box.”

“No, no, it’s your Dad’s.”

“He won’t miss it.”

Ben and Eddie stared at each other for a second, and then Eddie pushed the book closer to him. Hesitantly, Ben took it, and Eddie continued digging through the box. “Dunno why she saved these clothes.” he said. “You’d think she’d donate them or somethi-” he stopped, his hand having slipped under one of the folded shirts. “Hold on, there’s something here.”

“Under the clothes?”

“Yeah, it feels metal. Hold on, let me…”

Eddie pulled the item out, and then both boys yelped, and Eddie almost dropped it in shock. Then, slowly, he held it up so they could see it better.

Shit.

“Is that…” Ben said carefully, and Eddie nodded.

It was a spyglass. And not just a spyglass- that was the exact one that Bill had seen.

And now Eddie had just pulled it out of a box of his Dad’s stuff.

They stared at it in silence for a long, long while. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the full spyglass- it seemed to be split in half, and where the other half was remained a mystery for the moment. Ben particularly stared at the lid, studying the eye etched onto it. After several minutes, Eddie finally moved, slamming the spyglass onto the ground and shoving the box away from him.

“We can’t tell Bill.” was the first thing Eddie said.

“Why not?” Ben asked.

Eddie stared at him panicked for a moment, trying to figure out how to formulate the words. Finally he said, “Firstly, he’s _obsessed_. He’s gonna go nuts trying to find this shit-”

“So we’ll show it to him, we have a lead!”

“No, we don’t! We just know that my Dad had a spyglass once. This is all the rest of the stuff we have of him, and Bill’ll go nuts if this is the only clue we got. What if he thinks we’re hiding more shit and he turns the house upside-down? What if he thinks _I_ had something to do with it?”

“You wouldn’t-”

“ _We_ know that.”

“Bill knows it, too.”

“You don’t get it.” Eddie sighed. “Bill would destroy the entire world just to save his brother. If I was standing in the way-”

“But you’re not, you just found a spyglass in your Dad’s stuff, your Dad who died in a fire. There _is_ a connection!”

“And we’ll just… keep this to ourselves for now.” Eddie said. “We’ll tell him about it when we have more stuff, something more to go on than just a half-spyglass. We can’t just say, ‘hey, our theory’s semi-correct, but we don’t know exactly how, also my Dad might be connected to the people who _kidnapped your brother_.’”

“Why not?”

Eddie groaned. “Please, Ben, just trust me on this. Please don’t tell Bill.”

Ben hesitated, and then said, “Okay. Okay, yeah.” he took a breath, and then said, “Can I have the spyglass?”

“Why?”

“I want to study it. See if there’s anything written inside or something, or if there’s a reason it’s… it’s ripped in half.”

Eddie nodded slowly, before handing the half-spyglass over. “But you won’t show Bill?”

“No. Promise.”

“Okay.” Eddie said. “Now… you want to see what else we have up here? We can just… pretend that didn’t happen for a bit.”

“Sure.” Ben said. “That box looks interesting.”

“Let’s get it, then.”


	7. Richie Tozier and Ben Hanscom recruit Beverly Marsh

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_Richie Tozier and Ben Hanscom recruit Beverly Marsh_

 

“You find anything yesterday?”

Bill shook his head as they walked through the school halls, and Richie noticed the bags under his eyes. “Ch-checked some bo-books out, too, was up all… all night. Nothing.”

His voice broke slightly as he talked, and Richie quickly said, “Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure there’s more books and shit. You’ll find the spyglass soon.”

“I… I dunno, Rich. Maybe it’s… not a ty-type of spyglass in a b-b-book. Maybe it’s cu-customized or s-something.”

“We’ll figure it out, Big Bill. You always do. Like when you kept Ms. J from finding out everyone was passing notes by just fucking pretending to faint, that was freaking amazing.”

Bill glanced towards Richie. “This isn’t some d-d-d-dumb school pr-problem. This is _Georgie_. Who knows wh-what they c-c-c-could be do-doing to him…”

“Bill, Bill, hey.” Richie stopped him a second, before they could go into the classroom. “Hey, listen. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“How d-do you know?”

Richie hesitated, before saying, “Cause he’s a brave kid, y’know? And we’ll find him. Nothing can stop us, right?”

Bill nodded slightly, before they finally walked into the classroom. Most of the other kids were seated, tossing notes or sleeping or doing some last-minute studying. Eddie was nervously fiddling with his jacket string and only briefly nodded at Bill and Richie before turning back to stare at the wall. Stan was writing in his notebook, smiling at them as they arrived. Ben, meanwhile, brightened when he saw the boys, waving and smiling and briefly looking up from his library book. The boys sat in their seats, and Richie immediately pulled out a piece of paper to play with while they waited for the teacher to arrive. Bill joined Eddie in staring at the wall.

The door opened again, but instead of being the teacher, Bev walked in, a hardened look behind her eyes as she walked straight to her seat and slammed her bag on the ground, pulling out her books and not looking anyone in the eye.

“What’s her problem?” Richie asked, glancing towards Stan, who shrugged.

“She’s your friend.” Stan said.

“I mean… we smoke together, we’re not really…” Richie glanced towards her, noticing that she had almost completely buried her nose in her book, clearly trying to avoid looking at anyone. “Uh…”

Ben turned towards Bev, too, looking concerned. Richie glanced at him, and then said, “Look, it doesn’t matter. You happen to find out anything while you were with your parents yesterday?”

“Of course not.” Stan said quickly. “You?”

“No.”

The teacher walked in, then, and they couldn’t say much more. However, Richie glanced towards Bev, who still looked incredibly stone-faced. He bit his lip, and then whispered, “Hey, Haystack!” Ben glanced over, and Richie continued, “You free fifth period?”

“Actually, yeah.”

Richie grinned; the rest of his friends weren’t, except…

“Wanna smoke then?”

Ben’s eyes went wide, almost terrified, as he glanced towards the teacher to make sure she hadn’t heard. Then, he said, “Wha…?” Richie pointedly looked to Bev, and Ben’s eyes widened even more. “Oh! Oh… I mean, I guess, just don’t tell anyone-”

“Great. We’re behind the science building.” Richie said. “See ya then, Haystack.”

 

“Hey, Beverly Darling!”

Bev sighed as Richie rounded the corner, skipping and doing his British Voice again. “Not now, Rich, I’m not feeling like talking.”

“Oh, come on, Bev.” he swapped to what sounded like a radio show host. “Tell us what you’re feeling.”

“I’m feeling like shit and I want a cigarette, so if you’re not going to shut up, I’ll go smoke in the bathroom.”

“Alright, alright, geez.” Richie said, leaning against the wall as Bev pulled some cigarettes out of her sleeve and he pulled out a lighter. “Where’d you get this box from?”

“Shoplifted. Pretty easy, actually.” Bev said, passing him a cigarette. “Keene’ll look the other way if you knock anything over, or say the right things.”

“Oh, I forgot.” Richie said. “I invited another kid to come with us. You know Haystack?”

“Who?”

“Ben Hanscom. From Soc and English.”

“Oh, yeah. He smokes?”

“No.”

“Figures. Why’d you invite him?”

Richie bit his lip. “Well… even if you don’t wanna talk, you could use some people to hang with, right?”

Before Bev could respond, Ben rounded the corner, a book under his arm. He said, “Sorry, sorry, I… I couldn’t find the right hall-”

“It’s alright, Ben.” Bev said quickly, smiling. “It’s not like we’re exchanging test answers or anything.”

“By the way,” Richie said, coughing slightly as he lowered his cigarette, “Math answers are in the teacher’s front drawer, get to class early enough and you can copy them onto your arm.”

“Nice idea.”

“You cheat on the tests?” Ben asked.

“No.” Richie said.

Ben paused, and then laughed slightly. “I don’t think I get you, Rich.”

“And you never will.”

“So, Ben, you hang out with Trashmouth Tozier?” Bev asked, laughing slightly.

“Uh…” Ben glanced towards Richie, who nodded. “It’s a recent thing.”

“Yeah, we walked him home from the Library.” Richie said. “So now we’re exchanging conspiracy theories.”

“God, you’re all a bunch of theorists?” Bev asked, and Ben flinched until he realized she was still smiling. “You’re not gonna become my Mom, are you?”

“Why? What’s your Mom like?” Ben asked.

Bev paused for a second as she smoked, and then she said, “Well, she thinks the mailman’s secretly a werewolf, so that should tell you all you need to know.”

Richie laughed, and then said, “You mean like in that dumbass movie they’re showing at the theater?”

“You’ve seen that?” Ben asked, now the one laughing.

“Yeah, my Dad dragged me.” Richie said. “I think he forgot I fucking hate werewolves.”

“I’d rather see that zombie movie. Looks pretty neat.” Bev said.

“I’d love to see any movie.” Ben said.

“Well, we can all go.” Richie said quickly. “After school. I got some extra cash. Let’s make it a date.”

“With both of us?” Bev asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, whoever said three’s a crowd is a liar, I think your Mom-”

“Finish that sentence and this lit cigarette goes into your arm.”

Ben’s face had already gone red, even though both Richie and Bev looked amused. “Uh, Richie,” he finally said, “Does Bill want us to do anything?”

“If he does, he didn’t say.” Richie said. “He’ll probably just go back to the library.”

“What’s Bill doing at the library?” Bev asked, curious.

Richie and Ben both glanced at each other. “Studying.”

Bev narrowed her eyes, but Richie said, “You free after school, then?”

“Oh, yeah, Mom never needs me home early.” Bev said. “Ben?”

“Oh, I’m good. My Mom never needs me home early, either.”

“And my parents are outta town.” Richie said. “Business meeting.”

“They trust you home alone?” Ben said.

“What? You think I’m too young?”

“No,” Ben said, “I just think you’d probably set the house on fire trying to make yourself food.”

“That’s why leftovers were invented, Haystack.”

 

“There aren’t any cigarettes allowed in the theater, so that’s horseshit.” Richie said quickly, walking with Ben and Bev down the street. “And they don’t allow outside food, but I sneak some in anyway. I’ve got about five packs of candy on me right now.”

“How’d you get those?” Ben asked. “Did you get them from home after we decided to go?”

“Naw, I just have five packs of candy with me at all times.”

“Anything else we should know?” Bev asked, shouldering her schoolbag. “They gonna let us take these in?”

“Yeah, they won’t care, so long as there isn’t obviously food poking out of it.”

“Great.”

Bev slowed suddenly, staring at a telephone pole. They followed her gaze to see Georgie’s missing poster, and they all suddenly felt very awkward.

“Has Bill had any luck…?” Bev asked cautiously.

“Uh… no.”

Bev’s face darkened slightly, and she said, “Alright, you two, what does Bill know?”

“What?” Ben jumped.

“He’s not studying at the Library, clearly.” Bev said. “Come on, spill. What’s going on.”

“He…” Richie glanced at Ben.

“He wouldn’t want us to say.” Ben finished.

“God, boys, this isn’t some stupid ‘no girls allowed’ club, this is a kidnapped kid.” Bev said. “Come on! I want to help. What’s up?”

“Why… why would you want to help?” Richie asked.

“Because I give a shit about a kidnapped six-year-old?” Bev said. “And, believe it or not, I give a shit about Bill. So, come on, what’s going on?”

Richie and Ben looked at each other again, considering. Ben shrugged slightly, as if to say, _It might be nice to have her help._ And, well, she did give them money to copy the posters…

“Ben’s got a conspiracy board.” Richie said. “He thinks child abduction is a regular thing in this town.”

“I don’t _think_ it.” Ben said. “It _is_ more regular than you would think.”

“Is it now?” Bev asked.

“Yeah, kids disappear here almost six times the national average.” Ben said. “And nobody seems to care. We think… we think someone- maybe more than one person- is taking the kids.”

“You mean like whoever has the spyglass Bill drew on the poster?”

Ben paused for a second, and then said, “Yeah?”

Bev glanced between the poster and the boys, and then said, “Stranger things have happened to me. What are you planning to do?”

“Do?”

“About this whole thing. If someone’s taking the kids and nobody cares, it means they’ve paid off the police force, so you can’t go to them.”

“We’ll…” Ben and Richie looked to each other again, and then Richie said, “We’ll just get Georgie.”

“And leave the rest of the kids?”

“Uh…”

“And even if you get Georgie, who says they can’t just kidnap him again?”

“Well, we could tell everyone.” Ben said. “Once we have Georgie, he can confirm-”

“And then you all disappear?”

“That’ll be suspicious. People’ll notice.”

“Unless the whole town’s in on it.”

“There’s no way.” Richie said. “The _entire town_ couldn’t be in on it, right? If they were, we’d pick up on it, right?”

“Well, what’s Bill gonna do?” Bev asked. “Does he have a different plan?”

“Uh… I don’t…”

“You guys didn’t even discuss a plan, did you?” When both boys remained silent, Bev sighed. “God, okay. Listen, after the movie, let’s meet Bill at the Library. Anyone else in on this?”

“Stan and Eddie.”

“Okay, bring them, too. We’ll figure something out.”

“You really want to help?” Ben asked.

“I’d be a bit of a bitch if I didn’t.” Bev said. “But we’ve gotta know what our plan is before we do anything else. We can’t just wing something like this.”

“I’m just a bit impressed you believe us.” Richie said. “I doubt anyone else at school would.”

“Like I said, weird shit has happened to me.” Bev smirked. “Now, come on. Let’s go watch a dumb movie, and then go plan to rescue Bill’s brother.”


	8. The Losers Can't Plan for Shit

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

_The Losers Can’t Plan for Shit_

 

“Why is she here?” Stan asked. He didn’t mean to be rude, but there wasn’t really any other way he could ask that.

They were behind the Library- at Bill’s insistence, so they weren’t overheard. Stan had just biked up, to see Ben and Bill sitting on the pavement with several books open between them, while Richie stood over them playing with something in his pocket, Eddie was sitting against the wall and bouncing his leg, nervously staring at the sky, and Bev stood against the wall, writing furiously in a small notebook.

“Nice to see you, too.” Bev said without looking up.

“Sorry, it’s just…” Stan said.

“No, it’s fine.” Bev said. “I made Richie and Ben tell me what you were doing, and now I’m helping you not get yourselves on _Unsolved Mysteries_. Because, as far as I’m aware, none of you have a plan.”

“We… we can wing it…” Stan said hesitantly.

“Not if you’re planning on taking on whoever saw fit to kidnap a child.” Bev said. “Chances are they won’t care if you disappear.”

“Thanks for that.” Eddie said glumly.

“So, what do you want to do?” Stan asked, moving to sit by Bill.

“Well, first off, if Ben’s right and someone’s kidnapping kids, we’re going to have to be very careful and _very_ quiet.” Bev said. “If you haven’t noticed, we still count as children, thus nobody would notice if we vanished. If we want to expose the kidnappers, so that more kids don’t disappear, we’d need a reliable source to release the news, one the cops can’t cover up.”

Stan nervously started fiddling with his jacket, as Bill said, “We… we just need to f-f-find where they ar-are, g-g-get Georgie, get him to t-tell people what happened-”

“And then he disappears again.” Bev said.

“That wouldn’t happen.” Eddie said.

“It’s happened before.” Bev said. “Someone’s rich enough or powerful enough to shut people up, they can do what they want.”

“Jesus.” Eddie said, paling.

“We could… _not_ expose them.” Stan said hesitantly. “I mean, it sounds bad, but if they leave us alone-”

“Then they keep kidnapping kids.” Richie said. “We can’t just let that happen.”

Stan bit his lip. “You’re right, you’re right, sorry.”

“If this is something the police are in on, then someone’s probably paying them off.” Ben said quickly. “I’d say government officials or other rich people.”

“Why would they want to kidnap kids?” Richie asked.

“Illegal experimentation.” Bev suggested. “With different types of drugs or chemicals. Or they want to ransom them for extra cash, and they’re just waiting a bit to send out a letter. Or maybe-”

“You know,” Stan said, glancing up at her, “You’re a very cheery person.”

“Thanks, it’s my best quality.”

“The p-p-point is,” Bill said, “We need to ge-get Georgie back.”

“We can’t get him back if we don’t know where he is.” Bev said. “Or what’s going on.”

Bill shut his eyes, clenching his fists slightly. “I just… d-d-don’t want him to be hurt.”

“I’m sure he’s not-”

“You c-c-can’t be _sure_ , Stan! None of us can!”

Bev quickly changed the topic, saying, “Ben, you have a conspiracy board, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What’ve you got?”

“Just that nobody seems to care when kids disappear. The most likely explanation is that someone is kidnapping kids for something and paying off the cops, but it doesn’t explain how it’s been going on for so long.”

“How long, again?”

Ben considered. “The earliest one I remember being suspicious was… I’d say about a hundred and eight years ago?”

“Yeah, there’s no way it’s just one person.” Richie said.

“Maybe it’s a cult.” Eddie suggested quietly.

“A cult?” Stan asked skeptically.

“Maybe there’s a cult that kidnaps its new members.” Eddie said. “Instead of going out and recruiting.”

“You think a cult could pay off the police?” Bev asked.

“Where would they get the money?” Richie asked.

Eddie shrugged. “It’s better than assuming some guy’s been abducting kids on-and-off for a hundred and eight years.”

“Maybe it’s a vampire.” Richie said. “Or an immortal.”

“Actually, a c-c-cult or s-s-something like that might make sense.” Bill said. “There were t-t-two people taking Georgie.”

“They might’ve just been hired muscle.”

“Maybe the spyglass symbol m-m-means something.” Bill said. “The eye.”

Ben and Eddie shared a glance unnoticed by the others, with Ben looking more thoughtful and Eddie more scared.

“I feel like we should do more studying, see if there’s any cults popping up.” Eddie said hesitantly.

“I dunno,” Stan said, “That sounds pretty out there. It’s probably just for ransom.”

“Bill,” Bev asked, glancing down at him, “Did your parents get a ransom note?”

Bill shook his head.

“He’s been gone a week.”

“Does your Dad have any business competitors?” Ben asked.

“I d-d-d-don’t think so.”

“Look, even if it’s not a cult,” Eddie said, shooting a glare at Stan, “We should at least _check_. To make sure.”

“I didn’t see any implied cult activity in the books I’ve got, I don’t think.” Ben said. “I could look at more history books, or talk to our history teacher.”

“Our history teacher is gar… garbage.” Bill said.

Bev paused, and then said, “Hey, Ben, you’re not the only historian kid in town, are you?”

Ben considered. “Actually, no, no, there was a kid at the Library the other day.”

“Mike?”

“Mike Hanlon, yeah. You know him?”

“Vaguely.” Bev shrugged. “He had a history book the one time I saw him, so…”

“I think I know him, too.” Eddie said. “He delivers meat around town sometimes. I talked to him, he’s pretty cool. I think he did say he was into History… yeah, he said his Dad was a Historian or something.”

“The Hanlons live on the farm outside of town.” Stan said. “My Dad goes out in their area sometimes to take me birdwatching, he sometimes buys stuff from them.”

“What stuff?” Ben asked.

“I dunno, food. They have a farm.”

“Maybe he can help.” Bill said. “We can ask-”

“When’s he gonna be in town again?” Richie asked.

“I don’t know his schedule.” Bev shrugged.

“Stan, you said your D-D-Dad goes to his f-farm.” Bill said. “Could you t-t-take us there?”

“Sure, I’m sure he’ll appreciate six kids knocking at his door and asking him what he knows about cults.” Stan said.

“I could go with you alone.” Ben said. “Pretend to be returning a book, and then we can talk History.”

“And then see if he can stop by your house or the Library or some other meeting spot.” Eddie said.

“Yeah, I don’t think we should be meeting in the back of the Library. Seems kinda pathetic.” Richie shrugged.

“We could go to the Q-Quarry.” Bill suggested. “Nobody g-g-goes out there but us.”

“The Quarry?” Bev asked. “You guys hang out there?”

“Sometimes.” Eddie shrugged. “When we don’t wanna spend the day inside. It’s better than the Barrens.”

Bill suddenly froze, and said, “The _Barrens_.”

“What?”

“St-Stan, while you and B-B-Ben go visit Mike, the rest of us should go… go to the Barrens.”

“Why the Barrens?” Bev asked.

Bill looked up at her, something sparking in his eyes. “I just remembered s-something. I’ve _seen the Eye before._ ”

 

“Are you sure this is safe?” Eddie asked carefully, as he stood at the edge of the sewer entrance.

The Barrens of Derry, at first glance, seemed to be a nice field, but it was hard to enjoy it when the smell of the sewers got to you. The Sewer Entrance was right in the middle of the location, with a dirty river spreading out inside. The kids stood at the edge, peering inside.

“G-G-Georgie and I went here when… when our parents were out of t-town.” Bill said, fumbling with his flashlight. “We g-g-got all messy, but the sewers spread out farther than… than you’d think. We thought we f-f-found an area that branched off, like a tunnel, but we g-got freaked out and went back.”

“Tunnels?” Richie asked, skeptical. “Really, Bill?”

“How far does it go?” Bev asked.

“Under the wh-whole town.” Bill said. “But I saw… saw the eye inside, on the wall. I’ll t-t-take you there.”

“I dunno.” Bev said after a second. “Should we tell someone where we are first? In case we get lost?”

“You can g-g-go if you don’t-”

Immediately, Bev said, “Shit on that.” and jumped into the shallow river, walking towards the sewer entrance.

The boys stared after her for a second, and then Bill raced ahead, going in first with his light so he could lead the way. Eddie glanced at Richie, who shrugged. “We’ve done worse things.”

“Yeah, but… you know that’s greywater, right?”

“What the hell’s greywater?”

“It’s basically… piss and shit, so I’m just telling you-”

“Hey, come on!” Bev called from the entrance, “We haven’t got all day!”

They really didn’t; they’d promised Stan and Ben that they’d meet them at the Quarry by Six. Richie rushed forwards, while Eddie sighed, muttered something about how his Mother would kill him, and then raced ahead.  


	9. Mike Hanlon joins the Show

**CHAPTER NINE**

_Mike Hanlon joins the Show_

 

Stan was the one who finally pushed Mike’s bedroom door open. The boy looked up from his book, shocked, and scrambled to sit up as Ben and Stan walked in. “What are you doing here?” he asked, surprised.

“Sorry, sorry.” Ben said, his face reddening. “We wanna talk about History stuff… kinda personal history stuff…”

Mike paused, glancing between the kids, before sliding his book to the floor. “Sorry, what does that mean?”

“Can we talk somewhere… more private?” Stan asked, glancing out the door; Mike’s Grandfather wasn’t there at the moment, but he could walk in at any time.

“Uh, we can go in the field. See the sheep.” Mike said. “We should be good out there…”

“Good.” Ben said, realizing just how awkward this was.

Mike hesitated, and then turned to Stan. “Who are you again, and how to do-?”

“Hi, I’m Stan.” he said. “My… my Dad buys stuff from you. Sorry we’re dragging you into this, but Ben needs another history nerd for his conspiracy theories.”

“Oh!” Mike jumped up, eyes suddenly lighting up. “You could’ve led with that, conspiracies are fun!”

“Oh, God, there’s two of them.” Stan muttered.

“Oh, well, hope you like cults.” Ben said.

Mike nodded quickly, and Stan buried his head in his hands.

“Let’s go!” Ben said. “There’s a lot we need to catch you up on.”

“The two of you?”

Ben considered. “Uh… kinda? There’s like… six of us, but just us two for right now.”

Mike paused, then said, “Cool. Let’s go, I can show you our sheep.”

“Awesome!” Ben said, and Mike led them out, with Stan hanging in the back, feeling worse and worse every step they took.

 

“Bill, come on, this is basically just liquified germs.” Eddie said.

“Don’t be a baby.” Richie said.

While Bev was close behind, Bill was in the front, shining his light ahead as he stepped over garbage and litter that was spread out on the damp sewer floors. He turned a bend, saying, “It was right over h-h-here; I remember it be-because it was how we remembered the w-w-way to the exit.”

“I still don’t think we should be here.” Eddie said. “What if we get caught? And we get in trouble?”

“Come on, Eds, it’s fine.” Richie said.

“Don’t call me-”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Bev said, staring at the walls, her eyes focused. “It’s pretty cool, actually. Secret tunnels.”

“They’re not really tunnels,” Eddie corrected, “They’re sewers, which-”

“Are filled with piss and shit.” Richie snorted.

Bill turned the bend, stepping over some paper littering the ground, and stared ahead, before shining his light. “There.”

The others rushed up behind him, and stopped just behind him.

Up ahead, etched into the wall, was the eye that Bill had drawn on the spyglass.

“That’s a weird-ass looking eye.” Richie said nervously.

Eddie stared at it hard, concentrating. “Yeah.” he said, half-listening. “Actually, it kinda looks like…”

“Are you sure that’s it?” Bev asked quietly.

Bill nodded.

Bev glanced away, and then said, “Are we gonna explore the tunnels?”

“Ma-maybe Georgie’s here…” Bill said carefully.

“You said these tunnels expand all over town.” Bev said. “We can’t search through all of them, especially since none of us will be able to find our way back.”

“Eddie’s good at directions, he might be able to remember where we’ve been.” Richie said.

“I’d rather not.” Eddie said.

“We can gather our notes and get to the Quarry.” Bev said. “Maybe we can come back here one weekend with a lunch and a rope and find our way through.”

“M-m-maybe.” Bill hesitantly agreed.

“Right, well, let’s see what we can do outside.” Bev said. She turned to go, glanced at the ground, and then froze.

“Beverly?” Richie asked, a little worried.

She slowly knelt down, grabbing half a discarded newspaper from the ground, her eyes looking eerily distant as she stood back up, staring at the headline. Bill leaned over her shoulder, eyes narrowing in confusion. Eddie and Richie moved, too, with Eddie having a similar expression to Bill, and Richie paling slightly.

“Baudelaire Mansion Destroyed?” Eddie read. He glanced towards Bev. “This is from a few years ago. Who are they?”

Bev didn’t respond, still staring at the Headline. Then she shoved the paper into her pocket and said, “I… it’s nothing.”

“Bev, who are they?” Bill asked.

“I just…” she paused. “Used to live in their town. I didn’t know…” She took a deep breath. “Doesn’t matter. Look, let’s just get out of here.”

She walked off, and the boys stared at each other in bewilderment and silence for a while, before they ran to catch up to her.

 

The sheep were out in the pasture, and Mike leaned over to stroke one that happened to be closest to the fence. After a second, Ben followed suite, while Stan leaned against the fence, staring into nowhere.

“They’re so pretty.” Ben muttered.

“Yeah.” Mike said. “But let’s get something straight. This Bill Denbrough kid, his brother’s been kidnapped, and you think it might have been by some kind of cult, and you want me to help you find out if it exists?”

“Well, obviously we’ll help.” Ben said. “Until Six-ish, then we’re meeting the others at the Quarry to compare notes.”

Mike paused, turning to look at the sheep, and then he said, “I mean… I don’t see why _not_. I left my History books in my room, but my grandparents could overhear us…”

“I can grab them and bring them out.” Ben volunteered. “We’ll just be really careful not to get them muddy.”

“Could you?”

“Yeah! Stan, you stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Ben ran back into the house, to run up to grab Mike’s books from his room. Mike slid down to the ground, leaning against the fence as he sat comfortable. Stan said, “Sorry about this.”

“It’s no trouble.” Mike lied. He paused, scanning Stan and glancing to the farm to make sure they were alone.

And then, softly, he said, “I didn’t realize this was a sad occasion.”

There was a complete, long silence, before Stan looked down and said, as loud as he dared, “The world is quiet here.”

They stared at each other for a very long time, before Mike said, “What are we really doing?”

“Bill can’t find out.” Stan said quickly. “He can’t… but I can’t just tell him to stop looking.”

“So you’re sabotaging him.”

“Just… not helping. And making sure he doesn’t get too close.”

Mike sighed. “I’ll help. I’m assuming our side has Georgie?”

“I think so. I’m not entirely sure.”

“Okay. Okay-”

“They’re getting dangerously close, I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure things out.” Mike said. He stood up, and said, “We’ve been keeping the world quiet for this long, we can keep it quiet a bit longer.”


	10. The Losers go Swimming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) sorry this scene was too pure not to include  
> 2) you all had the EXACT reactions i wanted to the last chapter XD

**CHAPTER TEN**

_The Losers go Swimming_

 

“Everything okay?” Eddie asked quietly.

They’d spread out their notes across the grass on the cliff above the water, and Bev and Richie both looked increasingly uncomfortable.

“It’s just hot as fuck out here.” Richie said.

“Trashmouth’s right, I feel like I’m on fire.” Bev said, scratching her arm.

“Chill out, we’re fine.” Eddie said.

“We’re not he-here to be c-c-comfortable.” Bill said. “We’re here to-”

“To find Georgie.” Richie said. “Yeah. We’re aware. But if Stan and Ben could get here as fast as they could-”

“We’re _here_!” Ben yelled, rushing up the path towards them. They turned, seeing he was followed by Stan, who was talking quietly with Mike Hanlon.

“Oh, good, they got him.” Bev said. “Hey! Is it hot as hell or what?”

“Uh…” Ben paused, thinking.

Mike and Stan sat besides them, and Mike quickly introduced himself.

“Well, nice to meet you.” Richie said. “I’m Richie Tozier, I’m the cool one, these fucks are the rest of the losers.”

“Don’t c-c-call us that.” Bill glanced towards Mike. “I’m B-B-Bill.”

“And you remember me.” Bev said, waving.

“Oh, yeah, Bev.” Mike turned towards Eddie. “And you’re Eddie, right?”

“Yeah, I assume Ben and Stan caught you up?” Eddie said.

“Uh, yeah, you could say that.”

“What’d you guys find?” Stan asked, sitting down nervously.

“Not m-m-much.” Bill said. “But I got a m-more accurate sk-sketch of the eye.”

He put one of the papers on top of the pile, and they all stared at it, feeling various levels of unease.

“That was on the spyglass?” Mike asked quietly.

“Yeah.”

“And it was in the sewers?” Stan asked.

“Yeah.”

“So we can add that to the cult theory.” Ben said. “Some sewer cult.”

“I can guarantee that it’s not a sewer cult.” Richie said. “Because that is dumb as shit.”

“Not really.”

“Yeah, there’ve been some pretty weird cults.” Mike said, which earned him a glare from Stan.

Bev groaned, leaning her head into Richie's shoulder. “Bill, it’s too hot. We can’t think.”

“Bev-”

“Bill, I know we need to work, but do we have to do it this _instant_?”

“Yes! The longer they h-h-have Georige-”

“I think Bev’s right.” Stan said quietly. “It’s… really hot. We can talk about this cult shit after we cool off.”

“Yeah, we should do something fun to welcome our new investigative member!” Richie said, punching Mike on the shoulder.

Bill paused, and then said. “If you… if you want to g-g-go swimming for a bi-bit, it’s a qui-quick walk to the water-”

“Nah, too long.” Bev said, and then kicked off her shoes, jumped to her feet and raced to the edge of the cliff.

“What the _fuck_?” Richie screamed as Bev leapt, falling immediately out of sight.

“Holy shit, she’s dead!” Eddie said, as they all jumped up and ran to the edge, looking down.

To their surprise, they could see Bev floating in the water, laughing loudly. “Come on!” she yelled.

“Holy shit, she’s alive.” Eddie said.

“She’s insane.” Stan said quietly.

“She’s amazing.” Ben said, waving to her.

“Move it!” Bev called again. “Water’s great!”

“She wants us to jump all the way down there?” Richie asked nervously.

“In our clothes?” Eddie asked. “We could be too heavy, get dragged down- _Mike_!”

Mike was the first to also kick off his shoes and dive down, and after a second, Ben followed.

“Bill, come on.” Richie finally said, as his put his glasses inside his shoes.

Bill finished picking up the papers, shoving them into a folder and under a bush. “Wh-what if someone comes…”

Stan gave the others a quick look, and then walked over to Bill as they joined the others. He grabbed his shoulder, and said, “Billy, I… I know you’re worried. But we’re not gonna get any closer by completely burying yourself into this. Just… come swimming with us for a bit. Take a break. Then I promise, we will find Georgie. We _will_.”

Bill stared at Stan, and then said, “Okay.”

Stan kicked off his shoes, leaning down to pull his socks up, and then ran to the cliff. Bill paused, and then followed, leaping into the water. As he jumped, his stomach dropped, and he felt suddenly weightless. And then he fell, too fast, and he crashed into the water, droplets raining into the sky.

The second he surfaced, gasping for air, he was splashed by a laughing Richie. “Go, Bill!” he yelled.

“Yeah!” Bev swum past him, her short hair pushed back by the water, showing off her gray-green eyes. “Isn’t this way better than sitting up there?”

“W-well…”

“We should’ve brought swimsuits.” Eddie said hesitantly. “Our clothes are gonna be wet and filthy and if my Mom-”

Richie splashed water in his face, and Eddie froze for a moment, before beaming and yelling, “Hey, Tozier!” and tackling him.

“You were right, this is way better.” Mike said to Bev, before Ben started yelling, “Hey, guys, I found a turtle!”

“Don’t bother it!” Stan said, before he got hit with a blast of water from Eddie, who was aiming for Richie and had missed.

“Splash war, bitches!” Bev yelled, and Bill immediately got a facefull of water.

Richie pushed Bev over, who managed to team up with Eddie to completely soak him. Mike and Stan backed up at first, but eventually Mike and Ben swam off to explore underwater, and Stan joined the others in the splash fight by teaming up with Bill and Richie. Bev was almost glowing, none of the boys had ever seen her that happy. Even Eddie looked relaxed, his worries about how many germs were in the water and how damaged their clothes were going to be vanishing as soon as he managed to get a good kick in, splashing a wave Richie and Stan.

And for just a few moments, Bill forgot about the papers on the cliff. He forgot about the spyglass, and the abduction, and all the hours he’d spend crying and stressing in the last week.

For just a moment, Bill was playing with his friends.

 

“I’m gonna need a guide dog to get back up the hill.” Richie said, staring up at the sun, the only thing he could clearly make out. “I can’t see for shit.”

When the sky started getting dark, the kids had all unanimously agreed to swim back to shore. Bev was shaking out her hair, while Stan nervously kept pulling up his sock and Ben and Bill sat down on the grass, watching the setting sun and hoping that the minimal heat might dry them.

“I can help.” Mike said, and Richie immediately reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Good, cause otherwise you’d have to leave me here to stumble into a hole and die.”

“There’s no way we’d abandon you, Rich.” Eddie said, squeezing water out of his shirt. “Though we might lead you into the middle of the street if you get too annoying.”

“Naw, you wouldn’t do that.”

“Try me.”

Richie stuck his tongue out in the direction he thought Eddie might be. “Fuck you, Mikey’s my new best friend.”

Mike looked a bit nervous until he heard Richie and Eddie both laughing, and then he laughed, too.

“You alright, Bill?” Ben asked, watching the boys start another mock-argument.

Bill paused. “We could’ve done m-m-more today.”

“It’s alright.” Ben said. “We’ll do more tomorrow. And we can spend all day working over the weekend, Mike said on the way over he’s basically free from his farmwork by the time we’re outta school, and we can even do stuff at his place on Saturday.”

“You think it’ll t-t-t-take that l-long?”

“It might, I dunno. But we won’t give up, Bill.” Ben hesitated, glanced towards Eddie, and said, “We might find some stuff real soon.”

“Hey, Tozier, I got my cigarettes all wet.” Bev said, faking an upset tone, as she pulled a box out of her jacket pocket. “Isn’t that a fuckin shame?”

“Aw, you’ll get some more, Beverly Darling.” Tozier said.

“You smoke?” Mike asked hesitantly, looking a little nervous.

Bev shrugged. “Who gives a damn? It won’t kill ya.”

“It… kinda will.” Stan said.

“Don’t be a killjoy.” Richie said, his voice dropping into a mock-pirate accent. “Or we’ll throw you to the fishes.”

“Don’t _do that_.” Stan said.

“Aw, let Richie do his voices.” Bev said. “It’s his only joy in life.”

“That’s not true.” Richie said, as Ben and Bill stood up and the group started to walk back up to the cliff, where they’d left their shoes. “I get to smoke with you, and Eddie and I beat _Dragon’s Lair_ last week.”

“You did?” Bev asked, impressed. “I’m still working on that.”

“The trick,” Eddie said, moving to her side and smiling brightly, “Is to memorize everything, and I’m pretty good at memorizing.”

“Yeah, he memorized ev-every disease he c-c-could possibly get.”

“Is that so?” Bev asked.

Abruptly, Stan glanced over at the girl and said, “You know something? You’re pretty cool, Beverly Marsh.”

Bev looked like the world had just been gifted to her. It took her a second to respond, “Well, you all are pretty cool, too.”

“Th-thanks, Mike,” Bill said, “For coming out wi-with us, even though we di-didn’t get much done.”

“It’s no trouble, you all can just catch me up after school tomorrow.” Mike said brightly. “I’ve never been part of a team before, this should be… I dunno, feels nice so far.”

“Well, I hope we’ll all be able to figure something out.” Ben said.

“We w-will.” Bill said.

They reached the top of the hill, got their shoes and their papers and Richie’s glasses, and then started to head back into town. Mike was talking amiably with Ben about some history book, while Bev and Eddie were laughing over some joke Bill didn’t understand.

They might not have done what they’d wanted to do that day, but they’d had a good time, which was something Bill hadn’t had in a while.


	11. The Losers are Stressed

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

_The Losers are Stressed_

 

Eddie got home and managed to sneak into his room to change clothes and make it look like he hadn’t been splashing around in a lake. He knew for a fact that if his Mom had any idea what he’d been doing, she’d _flip_. She hated practically all of his friends already, and the fact they’d gotten him to jump off a cliff and into a filthy lake would definitely not endear them to her. Might even give her and excuse to force him to abandon them, and that was the last thing he wanted. And she didn’t even know he was hanging out with the new kid Ben, the weird farm kid Mike and… well, if she knew he’d spent the day with Bev, he’d probably get locked in his room until he died. His Mom believed any and all rumors that she came in contact with, and so when the other parents she was in contact with informed her that their kids were talking about how the new girl had up and murdered her Dad… he was lucky she hadn’t pulled him out of school completely.

Eddie really didn’t like trying to have conversations with his Mom. It never went the way he wanted, she always found some way to twist the outcome of the discussion to whatever she wanted…

But if he didn’t try, how was he supposed to know?

After dinner, Eddie stayed in the kitchen a bit, pretending that he was going over pill bottles to make sure they weren’t running out of anything. Of course he already knew they weren’t, but he needed an excuse to stay there while his Mom cleared the dishes. Sonia was busy for a few minutes, so he tried to just read the sides of pill bottles and open and close them at random while she rinsed and loaded the dishes into the washer.

Then, once the sink turned off, he took a deep breath, summoned as much courage as possible, and then said, “Hey, Mommy? Can I ask something?”

She turned, and Eddie forced himself not to look nervous, to try and look simply curious. “What is it, Eddie-bear?” Well, that wasn’t a great sign. He’d really hoped that he’d get a _Yeah, anything_ so he could use that, but… well, he’d work with what he got.

“Um, what… what exactly did Dad… do? Like, as a job?”

She stared at him in cold silence, and Eddie knew right then that he wasn’t going to get a good answer.

“Eddie, dear, why do you want to know?”

Fuck. “W-well, at school, some kids were talking about, you know, jobs that their parents had and stuff, and I, like, you know, realized I never… never actually knew what Dad did, I just know… I don’t know a lot. And it’s not like we have a lot of his stuff laying around or anything s-so, I just… wanted to know… what he was like.”

He was rambling again, and that was never good, especially since his Mom very quickly said, “That stuff doesn’t matter, Eddie-bear. You shouldn’t think about it.”

“But… but I want to. I wanna know more about Dad.”

“Why would you need to?”

The answer _So I can make sure I won’t be kidnapped within the next few days_ was probably not the answer that would get him what he wanted. “It’s family history, I just…”

“Don’t think about him, Eddie. Aren’t I enough for you?”

Damn it. There she went again. “Of course, Mommy, of course, I just wanted to know-”

“He doesn’t matter to us anymore, Eddie. He did dangerous things and that’s what killed him. So long as you stay safe, you won’t end up like him.”

“But Mommy-”

“Not another words about this, Eddie. You’re upsetting me.”

 _You’re upsetting_ me _!_ Eddie bit his lip and glanced at the ground, saying, “Sorry, Mommy.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs, Eddie? Get some sleep.”

“Of course, Mommy.”

Quietly, Eddie went upstairs, and shut his bedroom door. He looked around his room, and then slowly walked over to his bed, picked up a pillow, and screamed into it.

He came to a conclusion, then. If she wasn’t going to tell him _anything_ , he was going to have to find out for himself.

 

The next morning, Ben woke up late; he’d forgotten to set his alarm, still distracted by how much he’d enjoyed just being with other children. He only had a few minutes before he had to leave for school, but instead of packing up his remaining homework, he was studying Eddie’s spyglass, which he dug out of his drawer once he was sure that his Mom wasn’t home.

It was definitely only half, it didn’t even extend properly. He wondered how it got split, not that any of them would be able to find out, unless Eddie’s Dad had a diary under the floorboards or some shit, and Ben doubted that. If they hadn’t found a journal in that box, they probably wouldn’t find one at all.

He was most interested in the lid, with the Eye. His eyes kept drifting from the Eye to a certain Library Book, trying to figure out exactly if the Eye was the one described…

And then he looked at the lid again, and slowly, he traced a letter in the eye’s shape. And then another.

Oh, fuck.

 

“Eddie, I really think we should tell Bill about the spyglass.”  

Eddie nodded, sitting on Ben’s desk while they waited for the other students to arrive. “Yeah. You’re right.”

Ben looked at him in surprise. “Oh? Oh, uh, really?”

“I tried to ask Mom about Dad last night, and… I’m not getting information outta her. And if we’re investigating this anyway… you still have the spyglass?”

“Yeah, in my room. You and Bill can come over later.”

“We can bring the rest. They can… they can help us.”

Ben hesitated, before saying, “I… actually, can it just be you and Bill? For today?”

“Why?”

“I…” he hesitated. “I want to show you all something, but… not all at once.”

Eddie studied him for a moment, before saying, “I can tell them all to wait an hour before coming to the Library.”

“Yeah, that should give us some time.”

The door opened, and Bev and Stan entered, laughing about something. Eddie jumped off of Ben’s desk, saying, “What’s up with you two?”

Bev looked at him, giggling, before saying, “ _Heartbeats_ ,” and her and Stan dissolving into laughter.

“I don’t get it.” Ben said.

“Long story.” Stan said, sitting down. “We’ll explain later.”

Eddie and Ben shrugged at each other, as more students started to filter into the class. Bev was still smiling, until one girl walked in, blatantly refusing to look at Bev. Bev stared at her for a second, her face falling as she turned to flip through her book. Ben noticed quickly, and called, “Hey, Bev?” She glanced over, and he smiled a bit, whispering “ _Heartbeats_ ,” again.

Bev smiled and laughed again, and so did Stan, who struggled to hide his expression behind his book.

Bill finally walked in, sitting next to Eddie and writing furiously in a notebook.

“What’s that?” Eddie asked.

“Got the id-idea from my Dad.” Bill said. “It’s a notebook of-” he glanced around at the other students. “-our stuff.”

Eddie nodded, glancing around to make sure everyone else was talking, before leaning over and whispering, “Ben’s house, after school, just us.”

Bill nodded quietly, before sketching the Eye in the corner of the page.

 

“The Library, one hour!” Bev called out to Stan, as she raced down the street towards the pharmacy.

“Got it!” he called, and the second she was gone, his face fell. He walked a bit, before stopping in an alley between stores and sliding to the ground, groaning and burying his head in his lap.

After a moment, he heard, “Are… you alright?”

Stan looked up, seeing Mike standing over him, pushing his bike against the wall. He paused, and then said, “We’re in so much _shit_.”

Mike nodded, sitting next to him. “They find out anything else?”

“I don’t think so? But what happens if they find out about _us_ ? About _me_ ? Bill’ll never talk to me again, and… and maybe he _shouldn’t_ , and…”

“Hey, hey…” Mike said. “Hey, I’m sure Bill would understand.”

“He won’t. His brother-”

“Listen. Listen, he won’t find anything. He’d have to find something _really_ damning, and we’re… basically nothing but secrets.”

“But then what? Do we just… let him keep searching for Georgie until he dies? Or until one of our own fucking chaperones decides to shut him up?”

“Are you sure they won’t recruit him?”

“If they didn’t take him with Georgie, they wouldn’t take him at all. You know they like when recruitments are convenient.”

“He’s… quite the researcher. You’d think-”

“I don’t _know_ what they think.” Stan said. “And if I ask, they’ll know he’s trying to find them, they’ll know he’s a threat! We can’t-”

“Stan, _Stan_.” Mike said, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “Hey. Nothing bad’s going to happen. Our chaperones aren’t gonna… not to a _kid_. And his parents are probably with us, too, they’re not…”

The boys stared at each other for a second, and then Mike said, “You have your spyglass with you?”

Stan nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a spyglass, looking just like every other Volunteer’s. Mike pulled out his, and he said, “Huh, I was hoping they’d have different colors.”

“Different colors?” Stan asked, amused. “Then we couldn’t reuse halves, could we? Unless they were the same-”

“Multiple-colored spyglasses.” Mike shrugged. “Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

“I guess. What color were you hoping for?”

“I dunno. Blue would be cool.”

“I’d guess yellow would be nice.” Stan paused, and then said, “What’s your chaperone trained in?”

“Agriculture. Yours?”

“Ornithology. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

“Hmm.” Mike said. “I’m actually hoping to be a Historian. Maybe even a Librarian, if I’m lucky.”

“I don’t think I could sit in a library all day.” Stan said. “But my chaperone’s teaching me to send out messenger birds with hidden codes.”

“Do they cooperate?”

“I think more for me than him.” Stan laughed slightly.

Mike paused, looking up at the sky. Then, he said, “So, why are you in school? Usually apprentices aren’t put through public education.”

Stan stared at him for a moment, and then said, “I… we need to get to the Library. The others want to meet us there.”

Mike nodded, and then stood up. “We should get going, then. Hell, maybe we could get some reading done ourselves.”

Stan nodded and quickly pocketed his spyglass, shoving it as deep into his pocket as he could. He really didn’t want to look at that right now… and he definitely didn’t want any of his other friends to see it.


	12. Bill Denbrough Gains a Spyglass

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

_Bill Denbrough gains a Spyglass_

 

“Why aren’t the oth-others here?”

Ben paused, as Eddie and Bill went over to the conspiracy wall. “Um, well… I… Eddie, you explain this first.”

He’d grabbed the spyglass out of his closet as they rushed up, and he tossed it to Eddie, who hesitantly handed it over to Bill. Bill stared down at it for a moment, frozen.

“Wh-wh-where did-”

“It was in my Dad’s stuff.” Eddie said.

Bill stared at him. “Your Dad-?”

“Who died? Yeah. Turns out he died in a fire, like those… we dug through his stuff, and he had… that. It’s only half.”

“There seem to be dials on it.” Ben said. “But they can’t do much. And it definitely got split in half, though I’m not sure how.”

“Why w-w-would your Dad h-have this?”

“Maybe he… maybe he was part of this.” Eddie said simply, biting his lip and glancing at the ground.

“Speaking of which…” Ben paused, before saying, “Can you guys keep a secret?” Bill and Eddie looked to each other, and Ben said, “Cause… I know this is a big secret and stuff, but… I think I have something, and I… I know Richie has trouble stopping himself from talking, and Bev talks to him all the time, and I like Mike a lot but we barely know him, and-”

“Yes.” Bill finally said. “Yes, we c-c-can keep a se-secret.”

“Okay.” Ben said. He glanced towards his closet, and then said, “I have… I’ve got another conspiracy thing, and it’s… a little… well, I haven’t shown anyone before, but… I really trust you guys.”

“You’ve known us for three days.” Eddie said.

“Yeah, that’s longer than I’ve known basically anyone!” Ben said cheerily. “So, uh… come on in, and don’t freak out.”

He opened the closet door, turning on a light and rushing in. Eddie and Bill glanced to each other, with Bill still gripping hard onto the spyglass, and the two of them followed Ben in.

On the wall was another conspiracy board, with several newspaper clippings and handwritten notes pinned up onto the shadowed wall. It was pretty small, but a quick sketch of the Eye was pinned right in the center.

“What’s this?” Eddie asked, and then he froze, staring at a clipping. He picked it up, and said, “The Baudelaires?”

“You know them?” Ben asked, looking up.

“No, but Bev did. We found a paper about their house burning down while we were in the sewers, she said she used to live near them.”

“Fascinating.” Ben said. He sat on a chair against the wall, and said, “So, you guys ever go in the kids’ section of the Library?”

Eddie shook his head, while Bill said, “G-G-Georgie’s favorite books were all… all at home.”

“Well, a few towns ago, I ran out of History stuff, and I found these.” he stood up again and pointed to a picture, a photocopy of a book cover, _A Series of Unfortunate Events_.

“So this is some kinda fan conspiracy? For some kids’ books?” Eddie asked.

“No.” Ben said. “No, these books are about the Baudelaires. And they were real- see the papers?”

Bill looked at a copied newspaper clipping. “Holy sh-sh-shit? They killed someone?”

“Uh, no, they were framed for that.”

“They burned down a hotel?” Eddie asked.

“Gonna assume they were framed for that, but the books haven’t gotten there yet.” Ben said. “I only got to the part where they got off the Mortmain Mountains.”

“Those are pretty damn far away.” Eddie said. “My Dad apparently used to live there, and my Mom says his family’s from…” he trailed off. “Hold on…”

“The Mortmain Mountains have a VFD Hideout.” Ben said. “If your Dad lived there, and had the-”

“What’s VFD?” Bill asked, turning around.

“Check this out.” Ben took a colored marker out of a drawer, and drew onto the eye, tracing the letters _VFD_ out of the lines.

“Holy fuck.” Eddie said. “The Eye’s-”

“An acronym.” Ben said. “VFD. From what I’ve got, it might stand for Volunteer Fire Department, but-”

“What are they?” Bill asked.

“I’m not sure. They might be spies, but they might be librarians.” Ben said. “But what’s confusing is I don’t think they’re bad. They seem to be trying to help, but the books say there was a schism, and I think this one guy was-”

“Did th-they kidnap Georgie?”

Ben paused. “I… I dunno. The books never mentioned a spyglass, but it’s got the Eye on it. Maybe the guys who took Georgie were from the Bad side? Of the Schism.”

Bill glanced down at the photo of the first book, and then said, “And you’re s-s-sure these are true?”

“Uh, kinda. The author seems to have been a part of the organization, and he’s saying what he thinks is true, and-”

“Who’s the author?” Eddie asked.

“Lemony Snicket.”

Bill narrowed his eyes. “Snicket?”

“You know of him?”

Bill shook his head. “It’s just… this old nur-nursery rhyme. That my p-p-parents used to s-sing to Georgie. I can’t remember the w-w-words… but I remem-remember I hated it, don’t… I think it w-was about a f-f-farm?”

“I haven’t heard of the song, but I can look it up.” Ben said. “Can’t see why he’d have a nursery rhyme about him…”

“Do you h-h-have any of these?” Bill gestured to the photo of the book.

“I have the latest, but they don’t start talking about the organization until Book Five, where-”

“How much d-d-do we know? About VFD?”

Ben paused, and then said, “Well, we know they stop fires, or at least try to. And they try to preserve knowledge. There was a schism a while ago, where some of them started setting fires. Those are the bad guys, and the Eye is the symbol of both sides.”

“But it’s not a cult?” Eddie asked.

“I think it’s an organization.”

“Wh-where are they?”

“I know they were in the Mortmain Mountains, and the city the Baudelaires used to live in. And they were near the Hotel Denouement. And maybe Peru? After that, I’m not sure.”

Bill paused, and then said, “C-c-can we find out more?”

“I can look in the Snicket section at the library, but VFD seems to be really secretive, I doubt they’d-”

Bill froze, suddenly looking for a clock. “Holy sh-shit! The _library_!”

“Fuck, we’re gonna be late.” Eddie said. He turned to Ben. “At the library, you get the Snicket books.”

“Should we tell the others?”

“B-b-better wait til we have all the in-information.” Bill said. “Don’t want them to th-think we’re onto something, in case thi-this turns out to be fi-fiction. Come on, let’s go.”

 

“They should’ve been here by now.” Bev said, tapping her pencil against the desk.

“They’ll be here.” Stan said, though he nervously glanced over his shoulder. “Bill’s not just gonna ditch us.”

Mike was flipping through a History book he’d grabbed off the shelf, occasionally muttering something about wrong information or bad illustrations. Richie was playing with a strip of fabric he had, looking miserable; he really did hate having to sit in one place. And the others were five minutes late.

“Do you think something happened to them?” Bev asked worriedly.

“Wh-what could happen?” Stan asked, sounding just as nervous.

Thankfully, Bill and Eddie rushed in then, with Eddie saying, “Sorry! Sorry! We had to grab some books from Ben’s house and lost track of time.”

“It’s no problem.” Mike said, as Stan sighed with relief beside him.

“Where’s Ben?” Bev asked, looking a bit disappointed that he wasn’t there immediately.

“Oh, just returning his books.” Eddie said. “He’ll be right here. What’ve we got?”

“Every spyglass book we haven’t already read,” Richie recited, still playing with his fabric, “A few on cults, and, uh, this one weird one on the Derry sewer system. Don’t let Eddie near that one, he’ll find out exactly what germs we were stepping in and have a panic attack.”

“I’d punch you for that, but you’re right for once.” Eddie said.

“Excuse you,” Richie flashed Eddie a smirk, “I’m right _all_ the time.”

“Also, you’re not allowed to fight in the Library.” Mike said. “So you couldn’t-”

“Which is a bullshit rule.” Bev said.

“Yeah,” Richie said, as Eddie and Bill sat down and grabbed a book each, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to punch a Librarian.”

Stan, Mike, Eddie and Bev gave him horrified looks, while Bill laughed a little. “Why would you want to-” Mike began.

“They’re so _bitchy_. Who gives a damn if my book is _late_ or it’s covered in-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Stan said, “Before _I_ have a panic attack.”

“Okay, seriously,” Bev glanced over their heads, “Where is Ben? He’s taking _forever_.”

“Must be a l-l-long line.” Bill simply said, burying his face in a book.

 

Ben ducked through shelves until he reached the childrens’ section.

He honestly doubted there’d be any new books. He thought _The Slippery Slope_ was pretty recent, there couldn’t be any very new books. But it didn’t hurt to check, or to see if maybe something was hidden on the shelves…

He scanned the authors, until he finally saw the familiar _Snicket, Lemony_. The first book was there, was well as books five, six and two copies of eight. He didn’t see a book past ten…

Oh, except for that.

He reached forwards, pulling another Lemony Snicket book off the shelf. He hadn’t seen this before, he wondered when it had come out.

The title _Unauthorized Autobiography_ was written across the cover.

Slowly, he shoved it into his bag and then ran to the back tables, where his friends would be.


	13. The Losers do some Bonding

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

_The Losers do some Bonding_

 

A few hours into the research, Bev admitted that she had to get home.

“My Mom gets home early on Mondays,” she said apologetically, “And she’ll notice if I’m gone and freak out, I don’t wanna worry her, you know?”

Bill nodded, and Ben said, “I can walk home with you, if you want. My Mom’ll flip, too, if I’m late.”

Bev smiled slightly, and Stan said, “Don’t worry, we’ll keep working at this. You guys go ahead.”

“Alright.” Bev said, shouldering her schoolbag. “See you all tomorrow? Same time?”

“Let’s go to the Quarry again.” Eddie said. “Better than the Library, we’re the only ones who’re there.”

Bev nodded, said a, “See you at school,” and left with Ben.

Once they were out of the Library, she asked, “Find anything useful?”

Ben shook his head, a little too quickly. “You?”

“Of course not. We’re not gonna find anything in those books.” Bev said.

“Where do you think we’ll find stuff?”

Bev shrugged. “I dunno. We could try the tunnels again, but we might get lost. I tried researching the Eye, but nothing came up.”

“I could try.”

“Don’t bother, if I couldn’t find shit, I don’t see the point in letting everyone else waste their time.”

Ben _hmm_ ed as they walked, and then he said, “It’d be nice to have a permanent meeting place, wouldn’t it? Like a clubhouse or something. To stash our research and meet up so we don’t have to spend all day hiding our stuff from librarians.”

Bev considered. “We wouldn’t be able to find one in town. Too many people could stumble across it.”

“Maybe in the woods, like a treehouse.”

“Someone could still find it.” she paused. “Maybe if we put it underground. Like a secret bunker.”

“That’d be cool.” Ben said. “We’d have to get a ton of shovels, though, and it’d have to be wide enough for us all to fit and deep enough so we could stand but not deep enough that a broken ladder would leave us stranded, unless we built handholes into the walls…”

Ben rambled for a bit about how the structure of an underground clubhouse would work, while Bev listened intently, watching him go on and on as they walked towards his house, which was closer to the Library than hers. He seemed really excited about this, his eyes lighting up as he talked technicalities.

“You into architecture?” Bev asked after a while.

Ben paused, suddenly wondering how long he’d been talking. “Uh, yeah.”

“You know a lot about it.” Bev said. “I think that’s pretty cool, I’m shit at building design and stuff.”

“Well, what do you like?”

She considered. “I’m really good with a slingshot, figured that out when I was eleven, when my Mom took me outside to shoot tin cans. I can run really fast, I’m-”

“No, no, what do you _like_?”

Oh. “Um…” she paused, her face going red, as she said quietly, “I like outfits. Designing clothes and stuff.”

“Really?” It didn’t sound like the sarcastic _really?_ she’d expected; Ben sounded genuinely curious.

“Yeah. I used to have to sew up my clothes all the time and I kinda figured out how to make em still look good. And it’s cool, I like making my own clothes.” She glanced down at her dress. “I actually sewed this one.”

“Oh!” Ben looked surprised. “That’s really good, I never woulda guessed that wasn’t store-bought.”

“Thanks.” she beamed.

Ben opened his mouth to say something else, before he looked up. “Oh. My house is here.”

“Oh.”

“Do you want me to walk you the rest of the way home? It’s probably fine-”

“No, I’ll be alright.” Bev shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”

“Oh-okay, if you’re sure…”

She nodded, a little sad that the conversation had to end there. They stopped at Ben’s door, and he pulled a key out of his pocket, starting to unlock the front door. After a second, he turned back and said, “Uh, Bev, be-before you go… a few days ago, before we started, uh, hanging out, the boys said… well, I heard that you…”

Bev’s face fell. “Rumors finally reached you, huh?”

“Look, I just… I just want you to know I don’t believe them.”

Bev bit her lip, taking a deep breath. Then, she said, “You’re a good person, Ben. But you trust too easy.” She sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Uh, see you…” Ben watched as Bev turned to leave, looking a lot more upset than she had been before.

 

“You don’t have to walk me home, it’s alright.” Mike said quietly.

“No, no, it’s fine.” Stan said, as they walked their bikes beside them on the path to the farm. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following them, before he said, “My, uh, chaperones are out today, two towns over some crazy girl set a School on fire and they wanna make sure she wasn’t… one of the other side.”

Mike nodded. “You can stay at our place as long as you want. My chaperones should be back by tonight.”

“I’ve never been on a farm before.” Stan said.

“Really? None of your chaperones have had farms?”

“Uh, I had one on the edge of the mountains.” Stan said, before starting to count on his fingers. “Then a lake, then a roadside attraction, a carnival, a warehouse, a ship, and then a beach home. Then I got transferred to Headquarters, and now I’ve got an apprenticeship here. Been here for about two years, my chaperone thinks in another year or so I should be done and ready to be positioned somewhere.”

“I’ve almost always been on farms.” Mike said. “My recruitment was… pretty fast.”

Stan glanced at him. “Orphan?”

“Yeah. So we didn’t have a chase or anything, I just got transferred to… two different places, total, before Headquarters. What was the Carnival like?”

“Surprisingly boring.” Stan said. “And very stressful at the same time. They had _no_ system of organization among _anything_.” He sighed, and then said, “You know what? This is nice.”

“What?”

“Being able to… talk to someone. Even at Headquarters we had so much work we couldn’t do much talking about our lives. And I thought I was the only Volunteer here.”

“You were, I’m relatively new.” Mike said. “And you’re right. I haven’t been able to talk to someone in a while.”

“I swear, sometimes the chaperones just… forget what it’s like.”

Mike smiled. “Yeah. It’s all, ‘shut up and do your copywork.’”

“God, if I have to translate _Rime of the Ancient Mariner_ into code one more fucking time…”

“You got _Rime_? Whenever my chaperone’s bored he just tosses me _Count of Monte Cristo._ ”

“Oh, God.”

“ _Yeah_.”

They were silent for a moment, and then Stan said, “We’re horrible people, aren’t we?”

“What?”

Stan glanced at the grass, not wanting to look Mike in the eye. “We’re telling Bill we’re gonna find Georgie, we’re helping him look shit up, when we _know_ … when we know _everything_ , and we know if he keeps going like this-”

“We’ll get him to stop.” Mike said quietly. “We’ll get him to stop, and our chaperones won’t even know he’s been looking for them. We got him to stop bugging the police every day, we’re on the right track.”

“But we _know_.” Stan said. “We _know_ what happened to Georgie, we basically know where he’s going to be, and we can’t tell Bill because… because someone decided he _shouldn’t_ know. And the other kids…”

“Just don’t think about it.” Mike said quietly. “That’s how I got through my other towns. Just don’t think about the secrets, and eventually you’ll… you’ll get over it.”

Stan still looked upset, and finally he said, “How old were you?”

“Huh?”

“When you were recruited. I was six.”

Mike paused. “Eight.”

“Do you…” Stan took a deep breath. “Do you remember your parents?”

Mike shut his eyes. “Yes. Do you?”

Stan didn’t answer, instead saying, “Let’s talk shit about books we didn’t like. That sounds like more fun.”

“If you say so.”

 

“Bill, we need to talk, _now_.”

Bill glanced over towards the kitchen; his Dad still wasn’t back from work, and his Mom was once again reading something, having finally gotten him to come downstairs and answer the phone. “Wh-wh-what did you f-find, Ben?”

“I don’t… I don’t wanna say, are your parents home?”

“My M-M-Mom.”

“My Mom’s here, but maybe if I sneak out the window we can meet up behind the Library.”

“Behind the-” Bill glanced at the clock. “Ben, it’s n-n-nine at night!”

“I know, I _know_ , but this is important. Can Eddie come?”

“No way his M-M-Mom will l-l-let him go out this l-late. And she’d n-notice if he sn-sncuk out.”

“We’ll just tell him tomorrow, then. But I _need_ to get this to you.”

Bill sighed, before whispering, “I’ll c-come. Be th-there in ten.”

He hung up, and glanced to his Mom. She didn’t ask what that was about, but Bill simply called, “B-B-Ben lost his homework.”

“Alright.”

Bill sighed and raced back upstairs, grabbing his jacket off the floor and throwing it over his pajamas and sliding his window open. He wasn’t _great_ at climbing down a building, but he’d had to do it a few times when he was over at Eddie’s and his Mom came home early, so he could survive.

He managed to get to the ground, and he grabbed his bike and raced off, wondering in the back of his mind if something was wrong, if Ben had called him because he was in trouble. He also wondered if maybe he should just stay home, maybe something would happen there while he was gone, or maybe someone would see him alone on the street and…

 _Stop scaring yourself,_ Bill thought. _You’re just meeting Ben behind the Library for some information on Georgie. This is for Georgie, just stay focused on not falling off your bike or going the wrong way._

He got to the back of the Library before Ben, and he leaned against the wall, staring at the darkening sky and tapping his foot. He couldn’t stop thinking about everything that could go wrong, what if someone caught him back here and asked him what he was doing? What if, while he was gone, someone broke into his house again and took his Mom like they took Georgie? What if while Ben was trying to get to him, someone took _him_? What if-

“Bill!”

Bill sighed with relief as Ben raced up, dragging his own bike as he ran. He walked forwards, saying, “Ben, wh-what’s this-”

Ben stopped, pulled a book out of his jacket, and handed it over.

Bill stared down at it. It was some kind of biography, by this Snicket person. “Wh-what did you find-”

“I found out,” Ben said seriously, “Who took your brother… and we have to do everything in our power to keep them from finding out what we know.”


	14. Bill Denbrough has to Keep a Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternate title: Bill and Ben review "The Unauthorized Autobiography" and drag VFD for three pages

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

_Bill Denbrough has to Keep a Secret_

 

“What the hell are you-?” Bill began.

Ben glanced around, and then said, “Can you pick a lock?”

“Yeah, why-”

“We need somewhere quiet, but not the Library. Is there a building we can hide in?”

Bill stared at him for a second, and then nodded. “The- the arcade.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Ben grabbed his bike and started moving, and after a shocked second, Bill pocketed the book and followed him. They ran down to the Arcade and parked their bikes behind the building, and then Bill picked the lock on the back door and ushered Ben in.

“This is the br-break room.” Bill explained, as he managed to find some matches and light the candles around. “We’ve never actually b-b-been inside, but this is wh-where we see the employees go.”

“You don’t think there are any microphones, do you?”

“Micro-” Bill sighed. “No, I don’t th-think so. Not while it’s closed, anyway.”

Ben sighed, and then pulled the book out again. “This Snicket guy, he spills so many VFD secrets in this, I’m shocked it got out, especially if VFD is everywhere.”

“Everywhere? But you s-s-”

“This… this makes everything make sense.” Ben said, grabbing the autobiography from Bill and slamming it on the table. “If it’s true, and I can’t see why Snicket would lie… You know that song?”

“Snicket Lad?”

“It’s in the book. It’s in here, and… Bill, it’s fucking terrifying.”

“The song?”

“Everything.” Ben flipped open a page, and said, “The song’s one of the first things here, after the fake death report of Snicket. And it… the Chorus is…”

He passed the book to Bill, who looked down and read.

_Both his siblings watched him, And his mother, and his dad, But someone else was watching O’er the little Snicket lad._

_And then they took him, yea they took him, They took him far away, They took him in the dead of night, Beneath a moon of gray. They took him from the kitchen, Like you’d take a midnight snack, The VFD they took him, And they never brought him back._

He stared for a very long time, feeling completely frozen, eventually glancing towards the bottom of the page, where there was a note from Snicket.

 _Enclosed here is proof. This photograph was given to me in the automobile, as evidence that the passengers had indeed been “watching” me. I give it to you now._ Attached was a photograph of an infant.

Ben stared at him for a moment, and then took the book, flipped a page or two, and passed it back, pointing to the page on the right.

_Verse Three:_

_One evening Jake was chopping wood, And his wife was at the mill, This siblings two were drinking tea, And the house was very still. They came in through the windows, Not the door, which was the fad, A long black car was parked outside, For the little Snicket lad._

“So… so VFD…”

“They kidnapped him.” Ben said, taking the book again. “And Georgie, too, I’m sure. I thought it might be the bad ones, but… but they’ve got a transcript of a Volunteer meeting, where they admit to taking kids, and they’ve got stalker photos of some kid, and… and it’s so fucking clear, they make it so clear that they’re the ones kidnapping kids, I don’t even-”

“You think the-they’re here? In D-D-Derry?”

“I think they paid off the cops, or they’re in the police force,” Ben said, “And I definitely think they’re here. They’re the ones kidnapping kids, they’re the ones burning buildings, and everything is _their fault_.”

Bill stared at Ben, and then he said, “W-w-we have to t-t-tell my p-parents, they-”

“Bill, no!” Ben looked panicked.

“They… they’ll he-help, they’ll know wh-where Georgie is, I can- I can show them-”

“Bill, no, we can’t tell them.” Ben said. “We can’t-”

“Why _not_?”

Ben stared at him, looking very scared, before admitting, “I think they’re in on it, too.”

Bill froze over as Ben flipped through the book again, and said, “Here, in the transcript: J says that they get permission before taking children. And Snicket implies that his parents knew he was gonna be kidnapped, and…” he glanced up at Bill and said, “I-I’m sorry, but I think they’re part of this.”

Bill stared, and then he shut his eyes, took a breath, and said, his voice breaking, “You kn-know what? I th-think you’re right.”

They never cared. They never cared about Georgie disappearing, and Dad was always gone…

_Don’t think about it, Bill. Don’t think…_

“What do-does VFD do, again?”

“I think they’re spies.” Ben said, glancing down at the book. “Spies who steal and keep secrets. And sometimes set things on fire.”

“So… so what are we- are we gonna do?”

Ben stared at him, and said, “I don’t know. I don’t know, Bill, I… this is scaring me, and…” he took a deep breath. “Bill, I think my Mom might be in on this, too. I’m scared, Bill.”

“You think-”

“She’s always at work, I just realized I don’t know exactly what she does, she says she’s a teacher but she moves so much, and I don’t know how my Dad died and I’m scared that I’m gonna ask and she’ll tell me it was a fire and I’ll… Bill, what do I _do_?”

Bill took a breath, staring at the book, fighting back angry and worried tears. Finally, he said, “Will your M-Mom notice you’re gone in the morning?”

“No, she leaves early for work. She’ll leave food-”

“You c-can’t go back there, if you… if you think she’s in this. C-c-come to my house, my p-p-parents won’t notice, we’ll go to sc-school tomorrow, and then tell the others at the Quarry.”

“You think they’ll think of a plan?” Ben said.

Bill paused. “I’m hoping I’ll th-think of one. Come on, let’s g-g-go.”

 

Bill helped Ben climb up in his window, and then he shut the window, locking it and closing the curtains, making sure he didn’t have to look at it.

“We’ve g-g-got a sleeping bag in the closet, I’ll… I’ll get it.”

Ben nodded, sitting down, and Bill rushed to the closet at the end of the hall, pulling their extra sleeping bag out. He rushed back, before locking his door and saying, “Okay, in… in the morning, I’ll br-bring you breakfast, and we’ll sn-sneak out, get your schoolbag from your… your house, and tell the oth-others… tell them…”

Ben glanced up at him, saying, “What _will_ we tell them? We found the cult?”

“I dunno, I don’t… they de-deserve to know, especially Eddie, but… what are we g-gonna do? What if they d-don’t believe us.”

“I dunno, but I’ll have to go home tomorrow, my Mom’ll notice if I’m not there in the afternoon, and what do I _say_ to her?”

“Do you th-think VFD is after you?”

“I don’t know, I’ve made it this far, but it’s still… scary, you know?

“Yeah.” Bill said. “But I don’t… I don’t think they want me. I was r-r-right there when Georgie… why do you think they di-didn’t want me?”

“Maybe they thought you wouldn’t comply. Follow their brainwashing shit.” Ben said.

“Are we… are we sure they asked permission?”

Ben paused. “I mean, we… we can’t be _sure_ , but we can’t exactly ask, can we?”

Bill considered, and then said, “My Mom’s gonna be out tomorrow.”

“What?”

“My M-M-Mom. She’ll be out, she’s always out on W-W-Wednesday to go to th-the store. For food and shit. We can… get everyone here.”

“What? Why?”

“To look for pro-proof.” Bill said simply. “To make sure. Proof that my p-p-parents let Georgie get kidnapped. Proof that VFD is here. Maybe even… clues to wh-where we can find them.”


	15. Beverly Marsh snaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooh this one was a bit... taxing to write...

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

_Beverly Marsh snaps_

 

Eddie watched as Bill and Ben walked in the room, both looking very upset. “You two alright?” he asked.

“F-F-Fine.” Bill said. “Just tired. And we have st-stuff to talk about at the Qu-Quarry.”

“Okay.” Eddie said carefully. He glanced towards Stan, who was reading and not paying attention. Bev looked at them curiously, but didn’t say much. Richie was furiously wiping his glasses, having accidentally smudged them; he was getting increasingly pissed that his shirt wasn’t the right fabric to clean it right.

The door opened as more students walked in, and Bev glanced up nervously at the sight of two girls, who were walking arm-in-arm and laughing. Eddie recognized Gretta Keene quickly, but he couldn’t quite remember the name of the other- Sarah? Sally? Sally seemed right. They barely glanced at Bev before looking back to each other and laughing; Bev seemed a bit confused, and bit her lip, shrugging to herself and pulling her books out of her bag.

Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder towards the girls again. They glanced at her, and giggled hysterically whenever they did. Bev paused, looking incredibly bewildered, before shooting them a glare and going to her work.

Eddie felt Bill tap his shoulder, and when he turned, Bill pressed a note into his hand. Eddie paused, and then opened it, holding it under the desk so nobody could see.

_VFD took Georgie._

His breath caught in his throat, and he turned to stare. Bill nodded slightly, and Eddie mouthed, _What do we do?_

Bill mouthed, _Quarry._

Eddie paused, then shoved the note into his jacket pocket before anyone else could see it.

 

Bev walked out of the classroom as the bell rang, laughing as Richie said something stupid. “God, Rich, you’re such an idiot.” she said.

“Yeah, but I’m your idiot.”

“Yeah, you’re our _problem_.” Bev laughed, as Ben raced up to them in the hall. “And we’re gonna have to deal with you all afternoon.”

“You’re gonna have to deal with me for the rest of your lives.” Richie laughed.

Ben smiled slightly. “Unless we ditch you at College.”

“I severely doubt that, Hanscom.”

“Hold on a sec, I gotta get shit outta my locker.” Bev said, directing them down a hall.

“No problem, so long as you get cigarettes, too.”

Bev turned, faking a pained expression. “Why, Richard, I sometimes feel you only hang out with me for access to smokes.”

“Oh, Beverly Darling, never!” Richie said, slipping into his Proper British Voice. “I love you, Bevvie, even without the cigarettes.”

Bev stopped for a sec, and then said, “Rich, I told you not to call me that.”

Richie slapped his forehead. “Aw, shit. Sorry, Bev.”

She paused, then shook it off, smirking slightly. “Well, then, no cigarettes for you.”

“Aw, fuck.”

“Shh! Guys, someone’s gonna hear you.” Ben said, while Richie and Bev laughed. “You’ll get in trouble for smoking-”

“Pfft, nobody cares.” Richie said, though Bev did look slightly worried at that thought. “Don’t be a nerd, Benny.”

“He’s not a nerd,” Bev said. “He’s just careful.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Just… let’s hurry and get to the Quarry.” Ben said. “We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

“Trust me, they’re not even outta school yet.” Richie said, as Bev went to her locker. “Bill’s too slow, and Eddie… hey, does something smell like shit?”

Ben paused, before plugging his nose and nodding, while Bev, not paying attention, said, “Shut up, I’ll just get my-”

She cut herself off as she opened her locker, and let out a scream. Just as the door opened, something small fell out, landing with a sickening thud on the floor. It took only a second to realize it was a dead rat. A paper fell out with it, but nobody was paying much attention to that; their focus was entirely on the corpse. The other students in the hall, upon realizing what was happening, also screamed and rushed back, leaving a wide open space where only a shocked Richie, Ben and Bev stood. Richie and Ben stared at it, paralyzed with shock for an instant, while Bev stepped back, throwing her hands over her mouth and breathing hard, looking completely horrified.

There was a long pause, as students screamed and whispered among themselves, and Bev, Richie and Ben stood still. Then, finally, Bev looked up into the crowd, the horror in her eyes slowly shifting into something dark, something that looked very much like pure rage.

She looked between the students, and then, in a voice barely audible above the crowd, she said, “So. Which one of you fucks thought this was funny?”

The whispers quieted, everyone staring in fear at Bev. Ben tried to speak up, but Bev held up a hand to silence him, standing up straight and continuing, “Obviously one of you, what? Found this in the dumpster and thought it’d be funny to stuff into my locker? Which one of you thought that’d be a nice little joke? A fun prank?”

Nobody responded, and suddenly the crowd started to part, as Bill, Eddie and Stan pushed thought, stopping just short of the gap and staring in horror. “What the _fuck_?” Eddie asked, stepping back and reaching for his inhaler.

“Some fucking asshole,” Bev said, her voice boiling with rage, “Decided to stuff a dead rat into my locker.”

She glanced down at it, and then her eyes drifted to the paper that had fallen out with it. She bent down, picked it up, and scanned it, her eyes narrowing. Then, slowly, she turned it around towards the others.

Written across it, in red marker, was _Murderer._

“Original.” she finally said.

“B-B-Bev, let’s just go.” Bill whispered.

“No.” Bev shook her head. “No, I wanna know who did this _shit_!”

“Bev,” Richie began. “Bev, calm down, we should clean-”

Bev turned, and glared into the crowd behind them. She suddenly rushed towards the rat, lifting it and throwing. The boys jumped as the rat hit Gretta Keene square in the face, and she let out a scream and jumped back. Her friends all started screaming, too, and the crowd parted further, as Bev yelled, “How do you like _that_ , bitch?”

“Bev!” the boys yelled, as Gretta looked up, shocked.

“What? Did you think I was bluffing?” Bev asked, stepping forwards. “I bet you did.”

Gretta stared at her for a moment, and then said, “Of course you were, you can’t hurt us.”

“Wanna _fucking_ bet?”

Bill and Stan both managed to race forwards and grab Bev’s arms, barely preventing her from throwing herself at Gretta. “Bev, Bev, calm down!” Bill said.

“I warned you!” Bev screamed. “I warned you not to _fuck_ with me!”

“See? She’s fucking _nuts_.” Gretta said, struggling to keep herself from looking nervous, as even her friends backed up farther. “She belongs in jail, not in the middle of a school.”

Ben and Eddie both glanced around, looking for a teacher; someone had to have gone to get one, right? Richie was still frozen, starting to look pale.

“How about you go fuck yourself, Gretta?” Bev spat.

“Bev, Bev, please calm down.” Ben said, moving closer to her. “You fight her, you’ll just make her think she’s right.”

Bev froze for an instant, surprising Stan and Bill, who unfortunately slacked their grip slightly. She turned towards Ben, and said, eerily calmly, “Well, that would be something. Because she _is_ right.”

There was a silent moment, and then Bev screamed again, breaking away from Bill and Stan’s grips, and she leapt forwards and punched Gretta in the face, knocking her to the ground.

“ _Bev_!” Bill yelled, as the girl stepped back, lifted the rat by its tail, and tossed it at Gretta’s friends, who screamed as if they’d been set on fire, even though the rat landed between them, not even making contact. Bev gave them all another glare, and then rushed through the crowd, where students parted for her as quickly as possible.

Richie and Ben raced after her first, followed by Bill. Stan and Eddie both glanced at each other, before Eddie turned to Gretta, flipped her off, and dragged Stan along with them.

 

Bev managed to get to her bike in front of school and hopped on, getting halfway down the street before the other Losers managed to see her. They followed as fast as they could, calling out to her to stop and slow down.

By the time they got to town, they passed Mike, who looked up with surprise from his own bike. “What are we doing?” he asked as they passed, and he hurriedly swerved his bike to follow them.

“Bev got into a fight.” Stan said quickly. “And she’s real pissed off.”

“Why would she-?”

“Gretta Keene shoved a dead rat into her locker.” Eddie explained. “And called her a murderer.”

“What?”

Up ahead, Bev turned onto the Bridge, and as she glanced back, noticing that Mike had joined the group, her bike hit a stick, and she lost her balance and toppled to the ground. The boys all slid to a stop, too, and jumped off their bikes, running forwards to see if she was alright.

Before they could even reach her, Bev rolled over, leapt to her feet, and stepped back, yelling, “Stay _away_ from me!”

The boys froze in place, and Ben finally stepped forwards, saying, “Bev, it’s okay. You’re upset, but we can-”

“Upset.” Bev repeated, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Ben, I’m fucking furious. And…” she shut her eyes. “Just go.”

“Bev-” Bill began.

“Leave me alone.” Bev turned to go, lifting her bike up so she could hop on again.

“Beverly, we’re not-” Richie started.

Bev whipped around, dropping her bike again, anger in her gaze. “Piss _off_!”

“Bev!” Mike yelled, and Bev paused for a moment, staring at him in shock. He waited a moment, and then said, “Look, I don’t know what this is about, but we all want to help.”

“Well, you can’t.”

“Beverly, please.” Mike said. “At least tell us what’s going on.”

“What’s going on is she’s _right._ ” Bev spat. “Gretta’s right. I killed my Dad and I’m not even _fucking_ sorry.” She stared at the boys’ shocked faces, and then said, “Yeah, you’ve been hanging out with a murderer. Cold-blooded killer! So you can piss off and tell everyone all about how scary I am, how nuts. Beverly Marsh is insane and we can tell you all about it!”

“Bev.” Ben said quietly. “Bev, we… we wouldn’t…”

“I know it’s coming.” Bev said sharply. “I’ve been to three schools since then. And in each one, I was either the cool new kid or the weirdo loner. But they all found out, and they all told everyone how I was nuts. I’ve heard five different versions of how I killed him, I’ve heard that I’m a psycho, that I’m a victim, that I’m _anything_ that’ll be a fun story for the week.”

“Bev,” Eddie said, “Bev, we don’t… we wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?” Bev snapped, turning to him. “Wouldn’t use me? Make fun of me? Hate me?”

“ _We don’t hate you_!” Bill yelled, in a voice loud enough to give Bev a pause. She turned towards him, and he stared at her, and said, “Bev, w-we could never hate you.”

She stared at him, and said, “If you knew anything about me, you would.”

“Nothing you say,” Bill assured her, “Could ever make us hate you.”

Bev scanned them all, searching for any sign of disgust or fear or even anger. She froze up a bit when she didn’t see any.

Slowly, Bill moved forwards, and pulled her into a hug. She stood stock-still, paralyzed by confusion and shock. Then, suddenly, she leaned in, wrapped her arms around him, and sobbed.


	16. The Losers do a Scavenger Hunt

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

_The Losers do a Scavenger Hunt_

 

“I got ice cream.” Bill said awkwardly, walking into the Living Room. Bev was sitting on the couch, with Richie giving her a kind of side-hug. Ben was sitting on her other side, watching her carefully, while Stan, Mike and Eddie sat on the ground with some Library books spread between them, all constantly glancing up at Bev to make sure she was still alright.

“Your house is nice, Bill.” Bev said quietly, as Bill put the tub of ice cream on the table, pulling out the scoop.

“Yeah, I guess.” he said awkwardly, shooting Ben a look.

After a moment, Bev sighed and said, “My Mom’s gonna fucking kill me. I beat the shit outta a rich kid, announced to a crowd that I murdered my Dad, and then ran off.”

“We can go with you, if you want. Explain it wasn’t your fault.” Stan offered.

Bev shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Just beg her not to move us again.”

“Would she do that?” Ben asked, sounding panicked. “Move you?”

“Dunno. It happened with the second school.” Bev smiled slightly. “Trapped a boy in a tree for not leaving me alone. He was there for two days.”

“ _Wow_.” Richie and Eddie both said, sounding incredibly impressed.

“Look, let’s just… talk about something else.” Bev said quietly. “If I can ignore this problem for as long as I can… well, it’ll be nice.”

Bill paused, glancing towards Ben. Then, he said, “Ac-actually, while we’re here… we might have something… to do.”

The Losers looked at him expectantly, and he quietly said, “I actually… was hoping we c-c-could, um… I think we need to l-l-look for something. In my house. Before my M-Mom gets back.”

“What would we be looking for?” Bev asked.

Bill paused, glancing between them, and said, “The Eye.”

Stan and Mike both jumped, looking to each other, while Eddie went pale. Richie froze up, staring at Bill, before finally saying, “Why are we looking for that in your house?”

“I…” Bill glanced towards Bev, who was scooping ice cream directly into her hand. Instead of asking her why exactly she thought that was a good idea, he said, “It’s hard to ex-explain, and we’ve had a r-r-rough day. Just… let’s l-l-look for th-that, and I’ll t-tell you m-more when we f-f-find something.”

“We’re just… looking for the Eye?” Eddie asked.

“Or any-anything that looks… like it might h-have it on there.” Bill said. “Or that m-might have s-secrets.”

“Why exactly are we doing this?” Bev asked slowly, glancing up at him.

He paused, and then said, “I… I th-think my p-parents might’ve been… involved in Georgie’s kidnapping.”

Stan and Mike both looked about ready to die.

 

The second everyone decided to move, Stan dragged Mike up to the top floor, ducked into a room, and started screaming, “We’re _fucked_!”

“It’s okay, we’ll be okay.” Mike said quickly, not sounding convinced.

“He knows!” Stan yelled. “He _knows_ , Stan! He knows, if we don’t… he’ll know about _us_ …”

“He won’t. He won’t find out, he can’t.” Mike said. “Look, we’ll find anything that looks like a VFD hiding place, and we’ll sneak it all out. He won’t find anything. Then we’ll think of something to do.”

Stan stared up at Mike, and said, “Okay. Wardrobes, false-bottom drawers, loose floorboards-”

“Bookshelves.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, come on. We’ve gotta find that shit before anyone else does, if they figure out what’s going on-”

“We’re dead.” Stan said. “They’ll never talk to us again.”

“They… they might.” Mike said hesitantly. “They might forgive us. We’re not… personally involved in-”

“I don’t see how they could.” Stan said, sounding a bit choked up. “I don’t…”

Mike took a deep breath, and said, “We have to move, come on. We’ll figure it all out later.”

Stan nodded, and started to walk.

 

“So, it’s a cult?” Eddie asked, looking up at Ben. They’d gone into the basement, searching for anything of interest. Eddie was flipping the half-spyglass in his hands, not doing much looking, still trying to process what his friend had told him.

Ben paused. “Yeah. Yeah, I think.”

“Oh, fucking hell.” Eddie said, dropping the spyglass and reaching for his inhaler. “And my Dad…”

“The book doesn’t mention a spyglass, but I don’t see why else it would exist, if not to be given to Volunteers.” Ben said. “Look, Eddie, I’m sorry-”

“Jesus Christ.” Eddie said, taking deep breaths. “Jesus, do you think my Mom… no, no, she’s too… she wouldn’t…”

“I think my parents might be in on it, too.” Ben said quietly. “This must be a VFD-heavy town. That’s why so many kids are never found. The Volunteers are taking them.”

“And you think Bill’s parents-”

“Definitely.”

“Holy shit… do you think anyone else’s parents?”

Ben considered, as he moved a box of old toys. “I dunno, I’ve never met them. You?”

“Met Stan’s once, when we went over to his house. They were nice enough, I guess.” Eddie said. “Never met Richie’s, they’re always… at work… holy fuck, we’re in deep shit.”

“You ever meet Bev’s Mom?”

“No, we didn’t hang out with her til we started doing this. I know she’s a waitress, that’s about it.”

“Mike’s parents?”

Eddie paused. “I talked to him once before we started hanging out, he was delivering meat. I think he lives with his Grandparents?” He took a deep breath. “What if all our parents are in on it, Ben? What are we gonna do? Do we just… go with it?”

“No, no.” Ben said. “No, I… I’ve got an Aunt we could go to, I don’t think she’s with… she hates me, but we might be able to convince her to keep us hidden for a bit… the cops won’t do anything, so…”

“Bill’s got some cousins.” Eddie said carefully. “But they might be… and my Mom’s sisters… holy shit, are we really talking about this? Could we… actually leave?”

Ben bit his lip. “Why not?”

“We’re only thirteen fucking years old, Ben. They’d find us. We can’t do shit, there’s no way we could do anything on our own…”

“Maybe we could.” Ben said. “I can cook. Mike can garden. We could find somewhere quiet.”

“We can’t just… run.” Eddie said. “Not from our parents, not from this fucking cult.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

Eddie didn’t have an answer. Instead, he just flipped his aspirator in his hand and tried not to cry.

 

“Stan, I found it.”

Stan turned, surprised, as Mike pushed aside some books on Mr. Denbrough’s bookshelf. Behind them was an etched symbol of the Eye, almost as if it had been scratched on with a key or pocketknife.

“Hidden compartment, of course.” Stan muttered as Mike managed to find a slot that he could use to push the false wall aside, pulling books out of a hidden compartment. He slammed them on the ground, and Stan rushed to pick them up.

“ _Matilda_ ,” he read off, “ _Ramona Quimby, Lucky Smells Lumbermill_ … shit, he has one of those?”

Mike had just pulled out the last book, a very thick book that looked relatively recent.

“ _An Incomplete History_.” Mike said, fascinated. “We haven’t even got one of these. Where did he…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Stan said, glancing around. “Where’d we put my bag? We’ve gotta hide these. If the other kids even _see_ the _Incomplete History_ book, we’re all fucked.”

“This won’t fit in your bag.” Mike said, lifting the book slightly. “It’s too big.”

“It won’t fit in yours, either.”

“We could sneak it into the bike basket, I might be able to put it underneath the false bottom.”

“Your basket has a false bottom?”

“For my spyglass and codebooks.”

Stan looked a little impressed. “I wouldn’t have thought of that. Was that your idea?”

Mike smiled slightly. “Yeah.”

“Okay, well, we should get this out, then. I’ll shove the other books in my bag, and we’ll tell Bill we didn’t find-”

Suddenly, they heard, “What’s going on?”

Stan and Mike whipped around, seeing that while they were distracted, the door had opened, and Bev stood in the doorway, watching them with a confusing expression in her eyes.

“Shit.” Stan muttered.

“Bev, we-” Mike began.

Bev’s eyes trailed down to the books, flitted to the bookshelf’s secret compartment, and then back to the boys. “Oh my God.”

“Bev, this isn’t what it looks like.” Mike began. “We just…”

“Please don’t tell Bill!” Stan said. “Or Eddie, or Rich, or Ben, we just… we can explain everything, just please don’t… please don’t tell anyone…”

Bev looked back to the books, and then she stepped in, closing the door. She took her bag off of her shoulders, and opened it, walking forwards and shoving it under the boys’ noses.

“Put the book in here.” she said calmly. “It’ll fit.”

Stan and Mike froze. Finally, Mike said, “What?”

Bev glanced up at them, and then said, very reluctantly, “I guess I just… didn’t realize this was a sad occasion.”

Both boys continued to stare at her, realization dawning.

They both responded, softly, “The world is quiet here.”

Bev waited a moment, and then said, “Hide the book.”


	17. Stan Uris makes some Associates

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

_Stan Uris makes some Associates_

 

“I’m sorry, Bill, we have to go.”

They came up with excuses, each of them. Bev wanted to get home before her Mom found out what she had done. Mike realized he had chores left to do. Stan was grounded. Bill was disappointed, of course, but they figured they’d have to get used to that.

Ben and Eddie were searching the basement, and Richie the attic, so they didn’t bother waiting to say goodbye to them. Instead, they hopped on their bikes and made it all the way to the dirt path towards Mike’s farm before they started slowing down, jumping off their bikes so they could walk, and started to chat.

“These books will be safest at your place. Nobody else will find them.” Bev said.

“Unless my chaperones sneak into my room.” Mike said.

“Would they do that?” Stan asked, looking a little worried.

“Maybe.”

“My Chaperone gives me space so long as I don’t draw attention.” Bev said simply. “Which, like, mission failed, I guess.”

“Wait,” Stan said, suddenly realizing, “That’s not your Mom?”

Bev glanced away. “My Mom died when I was five. Accidental overdose. I don’t think she was a Volunteer.”

“How’d you end up here?”

“The right side found me. My Dad was… not a Volunteer, either. They took me away from him. I can’t thank them enough for that.”

“So you didn’t kill him?” Mike asked.

“Oh, no, I definitely did.” Bev said. “But VFD did get to me first. They gave me a life without him in it, and the courage to finally off the bastard.”

Stan waited a moment, wondering if Bev would go on, before saying, “Was… Bev, are you a Firestarter?”

Bev looked at him, horrified. “No! Why would you think that?”

“It’s just… you smoke, that’s all.”

She calmed at that, even laughed a little. “Just a little teenage rebellion.” she said. “Trust me, if my chaperone knew I smoked, I’d be a dead girl.”

“I don’t know how you even trust yourself.” Mike said. “With matches and lighters. I could barely look at a candle after my house burned.”

“I haven’t seen a fire in… a year or so, but I still don’t think I could trust myself like that, either.” Stan said quietly. “I’ve heard the horror stories.”

“God, _so many_ horror stories.” Bev laughed. “Did they make you take that day where you went out and talked to old teachers who’d seen children burn and shit and described it to you until you wanted to claw your ears out?”

“ _Yes_.” Mike and Stan both said, and the three kids all burst out laughing.

“Oh! What was your worst class?” Mike asked. “While still at Headquarters?”

“Sneaking, definitely.” Stan said. “Almost failed the assessment.”

“Could not _stand_ theatrical productions.” Bev said. “I mean, acting is fun, definitely, but you have to make sure you’re not a _single word_ off, or else the entire message is just… dead.”

“I almost failed at Combat.” Mike said. “I don’t like hurting things.”

“Hmm, they should make us partners.” Bev said, almost jokingly. “I can defend you. Both of you, actually; you don’t look like a fighter, Stan.”

“I’m an Ornithologist and Bird Trainer.” Stan said. “Definitely not a fighter.”

“Historian.” Mike said.

“Designer and Disguiser.” Bev said. “I could disguise myself as a completely different person with only two pieces of fabric and a ribbon.”

“Is your chaperone-?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s the same.” she said. “I’m learning loads. When we’re not on the run, that is. I tend to attract attention, she tends to attract Firestarters.”

“My Chaperone thinks I’ll be ready to end my apprenticeship in a year or so.” Stan said. “I can go to Headquarters and do birds there, then once I’m old enough to not attract attention they’ll send me to my first position.”

“I think I’ve still got a ways to go,” Mike said, “But I’d love to be a Librarian.”

“I’d love to be at your Library.” Bev said sweetly. “I’m sure you’d be amazing. And my apprenticeship will probably last a while.”

They were quiet for a moment, and then Stan said, “Um… when you got…  recruited… were you scared?”

They all fell silent, and then Mike said, “I mean… who isn’t a little nervous during recruitment?”

“Do you think…” Stan hesitated. “How scared do you think Georgie was?”

Bev stopped walking, and the other boys followed suite. They stared at each other for a bit, and then Bev said, “Do you guys _actually_ have a plan? For Bill?”

“Uh…” Stan began.

“Our… our plan…” Mike said quietly. “It’s basically to just keep Bill from finding shit out until he gives up.”

“He’s not gonna do that.” Bev said.

“Yeah, I… well, do you have a better idea?” Stan asked.

Bev hesitated, before saying, “I was… thinking about… well, maybe we could recruit him.” Stan froze over, while Mike just stared at Bev curiously. She continued, “I mean, he’d be a good Volunteer, you know.”

“If… if they didn’t take him with Georgie,” Stan said carefully, “It means they don’t want him.”

“They might change their minds.” Bev said. “He’s quite the researcher. Very determined. Have you heard the essays our teacher makes him read aloud in English class? He’s amazing, he could be a Writer if we…”

“I don’t… I don’t know if he’d like it. He might be too old for recruitment, too.”

“The age limit is sixteen, Bill’s definitely not too old.” Mike shrugged. “I know kids who’ve been recruited older than him.”

“I just…”

“And… well, the others could come, too.” Bev said quietly. “Ben’s an Architect, and an avid reader, and Eddie’s a memorizer-”

“Are you a recruiter?” Stan asked cautiously.

Bev shook her head. “I just… look, I get relocated a lot, and… I dunno, it might be… it might be nice to… have a shot at seeing you guys again.”

She opened her mouth, to say more, and then she froze, staring over Stan’s shoulder. Stan turned around, following her gaze, and after a moment, Mike turned, too.

They all stared at the shape of several adults- four, maybe?- in the distance, talking amongst themselves. That wasn’t… usual. Most people didn’t venture this far out of Derry. Especially not off the path.

“Mike… do you know them?” Stan asked worriedly.

Mike shook his head, eyes growing wide.

“Maybe they’re just travelers?” Bev asked. “Or maybe they’re going camping.”

Mike slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out his spyglass. He put it up to his eye, staring at the people. “They’re not familiar.” he said. “I haven’t…” he suddenly dropped the spyglass, saying, “We have to go.”

“Why?” Bev asked.

“They’ve got matches.” Mike said. “ _And_ I thought I saw a spyglass. Firestarters. We have to-”

“There shouldn’t be Firestarters here!” Bev gasped. “This is a Volunteer town, how the hell-”

“We need to get to my farm, we can hide there.” Mike said.

“Unless we’re followed.” Stan said.

“Where else can we go?”

Bev suddenly said, “Boys. Boys, we’ve been spotted.”

Stan and Mike looked back to the Firestarters, and realized she was right; the adults were staring at them. Mike jumped on his bike, and said, “We have to go. Somewhere they can’t follow.”

“The Barrens.” Bev said quickly.

“What?” Stan and Mike both said.

“Just follow me, come _on_! We can’t let them get to us!”

 

“Richie, we found something!”

Richie let out a quiet curse as he heard Bill yell from below the attic, and he quickly opened the door and ran down, saying, “What’d you get?”

“It’s in the c-c-cellar! Ben and Eds f-found something!”

Richie reached the bottom of the stairs, and him and Bill rushed to the cellar, which was lit very dimly; he wasn’t sure how anybody could even see down here.

“It’s over here!” Ben waved, and Richie’s eyes adjusted a bit to see that him and Eddie were kneeling on the floor, looking at something. Bill and Richie moved closer, and Eddie flicked on a flashlight, saying, “Take a look at _this_! We found it under a toy chest.”

On the ground was the design of the Eye.

And, slowly, Eddie reached into a crack in the floorboards and lifted, and they stared into the inky blackness below.

“Is that a secret room?” Richie asked, sounding scared.

“No.” Ben said. “I don’t think. I think… I think it’s a tunnel.”

They stared down, as Richie muttered a “Holy shit.”

Then, Bill said, “Should we go down?”

“Now?” Richie and Eddie both asked.

“Why n-not?”

Before anyone could answer, the phone rang from upstairs. The boys glanced at each other, and then Bill raced up the stairs, and after a moment, the boys followed, waiting just outside the cellar doorway.

“H-h-hello? Denbrough House.” Bill said into the phone, glancing at the others. Then, he said, “Oh, h-hi, Ms. Marsh. I’m B-Bill… uh, no, B-Bev left a while ago, she’s not th-there?”

Ben and Richie turned to each other, both suddenly fearful. Eddie grabbed his inhaler.

“N-no, I don’t… listen, if this is ab-about school, it wa-wasn’t her f-f-fault… I’ll c-call you if sh-she comes over. Yeah. No. Yeah, bye.”

He hung up, and turned to the others. Then, quickly, he said, “Go g-get your bikes. We h-have to f-f-find Bev.”


	18. The VFD Kids get themselves Stuck

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

_The VFD Kids get themselves Stuck_

 

Bev, Stan and Mike didn’t dare look back until they reached the Barrens. They abandoned their bikes in the grass, and Bev glanced back, saying, “I don’t think they followed us, but just in case, get into the tunnels. I know the basics of the passage, we should be alright.”

“You’ve been in the tunnels?” Stan asked, impressed.

Bev paused. “Uh… no, no, but my chaperone left her map out once and I did my best to memorize it. I should be able to take us to the Library, we’ll be safe there.”

“Uh, if you say so.” Mike said, still looking worriedly behind them.

“Come on, move your asses!” Bev yelled, grabbing Stan’s hand and dragging him behind as she tore through the grass, running for the Barrens. Mike moved just as fast, catching up to her quickly, and they all rushed into the sewers, desperately trying to ignore the greywater splashing around their feet, following Bev as she led the way around a bend and towards the area where the sewers ended and tunnels began.

They knew they’d made it when they saw the Eye etched onto the wall. They stopped just underneath it, as Bev tried to recall the map in her head.

“You sure they won’t follow us in?” Stan asked.

“They might, but Firestarters apparently go in the tunnels all the time, so it’s not like we’re leading them somewhere secret.” Bev said. “We can lose them easily, nobody ever can follow a trail in the tunnels, at least from what my chaperone said.”

“So, you’re saying we should definitely not split up?” Stan said.

“Grab hands and keep running.” Bev said. “I think the Library entrance is… this way, come on.”

Mike grabbed onto Stan’s other hand, and Bev gestured to the right, and they took off running.

 

The boys ducked into an alley after almost an hour, and Bill leaned against the wall, clenching his fists and staring at the ground. They glanced at him for a moment, and then Eddie said, “She’s probably just off smoking somewhere, she’ll be fine, Bill.”

“Will she?” Bill glared at him. “She j-j-just disappeared! After ev-everything that ha-happened to her today, and I’m n-not supposed to be w-worried?”

“She was with Stan and Mike, it’s not like we let her out alone.” Richie said. “We can go check at their houses- hell, maybe she just went down to Mike’s farm.”

“Does anyone have Mike’s number? We could call.” Ben suggested, looking about as worried as Bill.

As everyone shook their heads, Bill bit his lip and stared at the ground, and said, “What if… what if they all g-g-got kidnapped? And we we-weren’t th-there to stop it?”

“They’re not… they couldn’t have been…” Eddie began, glancing between Ben and Richie for some kind of voice of reason. Unfortunately, the the closest thing the group had to a voice of reason was Stan, who was currently not present, meaning that they were all in deep shit.

“Maybe someone’s seen them?” Richie said. “We can go to the Library, or the Pharmacy-”

“Not the Pharmacy.” Eddie said. “If you didn’t notice, Gretta Keene’s the one who stuffed a dead rat in Bev’s locker, so she’s not gonna be much help. Also, Mr. Kenne would definitely tell my Mom I’m friends with her if I ask about her, and she _won’t_ like that and won’t let me out of the house for, like, a year.”

“I can go in and you can hide in the back.” Richie suggested. “I think he knows I hang out-”

“No!” Bill yelled, and everyone jumped. “No, we’re n-n-not spl-splitting up! Not again, we’re not-”

“Bill.” Ben moved forwards, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Bill, you’re going to need to calm down for a minute.”

“I c-c-c-can’t!” Bill said, tears in his eyes. “Not while B-Bev is missing, and m-maybe Stan and Mike, and…”

“I’m sure Stan and Mike are fine.” Ben said. “Just because we haven’t seen them-”

“They g-g-g-got to them, and y-you know it.” Bill said, breathing hard. “VFD. They f-f-found out we’re inv-investigating, and…”

“What’s VFD?” Richie asked, sounding incredibly nervous.

Ben and Bill both froze, and Eddie let out a quiet, “Fuck.”

Richie glanced between them, saying, “Guys. What’s this VFD thing?”

“Um…” Ben began.

At that moment, two boys walked by, laughing about something. They stopped when they saw the others, and one of them said, “Whoa, you’re Marsh’s friends, right?”

Ben stiffened. “If you’re gonna be a dick to her, you can-”

“Have you s-s-seen her?” Bill asked, staring.

To their relief, the boys nodded. “Yeah, we were wondering if she’s in legal trouble or something, she looked like she was on the run.”

“On the run?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, she and two other kids were heading…” the boy considered. “That way. There’s nothing there but the Barrens.”

“Is Gretta suing her or something?”

Bill, Ben, Richie and Eddie all looked each other, eyes widening in realization. Richie and Bill immediately raced out of the alley, while Ben and Eddie muttered a “thank you” to the boys before following.

 

Bev paused, glancing up, before saying, “Shit.”

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” Stan asked worriedly.

“No, no…” Bev said unconvincingly. “No, I just… must’ve taken a wrong turn. There should be a trapdoor into the study room here… maybe I can find a landmark, or we can go out and walk from there. Or we could go to my chaperone’s house, we’d be safe there.”

They went down another bend, and Mike said, “So… do you think our chaperones know we’re all in town together?”

“Of course. VFD wouldn’t lie.” Bev said. “They have to know that there are other Volunteers stationed here with apprentices.”

“Then why didn’t they ever introduce us?” Mike asked.

They were quiet for a moment, and then Stan said, “Uh, maybe they wanted us find each other. Use our critical thinking and shit.”

“Well, I guess we’ll tell them it went like that.” Mike said. “Unless we _want_ to tell them that our friends are investigating their recruiting practices.”

“Hell no.” Bev said, and Stan said something similar.

“Yeah, even if we wanted the other Losers in VFD,” Stan said, “I feel like introducing them as ‘those kids who are trying to expose you’ wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Bev paused, glancing at Stan in the dim light. “Would you… do you _not_ want them in VFD?”

Stan looked very uncomfortable. “Well, I mean… you’re right, it’d be nice to see them after we get transferred, but… well, I just don’t know if they’d like this life. Bill’s not good at keeping secrets, and Ben seems too instantly trusting, and Richie’s… loud. He never shuts up, you know?”

“I dunno, they could…” Bev said quietly. “They could be good.”

“We could just put recruitment as a last resort to getting them to stop.” Mike said quietly. “We definitely need to lead them down the wrong path, though. They’re getting dangerously close, and we don’t want to just let them get hurt, you know?”

“I don’t think they’d get… _hurt_.” Bev said. “But we can’t let them expose us, or try to. Especially if there are Firestarters nearby.”

“Yeah, there aren’t supposed to be.” Mike said. “Maybe we should warn our chaperones that we saw them. They might want to know.”

“Or they might move us out of town.” Bev said.

“They wouldn’t do that, our job is to fight the Firestarters.”

“Well, they might move me anyway. I’m drawing too much attention.” Bev stopped for a second, reaching up to wipe her eyes on her sleeve. “God, what a day, huh?”

“Yeah, some wild shit’s happened.” Stan laughed slightly. “Bet this is the worst day of your life, huh?”

“Not remotely.” Bev said. “At least I’ve got friends today, haven’t always had that.”

They were quiet for a moment, before Stan said, “Speaking of, uh, things that happened today… um, about you, uh-”

“Killing my Dad?”

“...yeah.”

“Don’t worry about it, he deserved it.”

“I mean, I’m sure he did,” Stan said, “But, um… how did…”

“Stop talking.” Mike suddenly said, and obediently, everyone froze, and they all heard what Mike had.

Footsteps.

“Down this way.” Bev said, taking them down a side-tunnel. “This should be the way to the Library.”

They started running when the footsteps kept coming, sounding heavy enough to be adult footsteps; they didn’t know who that was, but they weren’t about to take any chances. Bev directed them down the tunnels as they kept moving faster, but the boys could tell she was starting to get nervous; she didn’t have the tunnels as memorized as she’d thought.

“Bev…” Stan started. “I think they’re catching up.”

“No problem, I have an idea.” Bev said, her eyes lighting up as she spotted something on the wall. She ran to a door, pushing it open and pushing the boys in ahead of her before turning and shutting it. They paused for a second, breathing hard and glancing at each other, and then Bev said, “What’s in here?”

They looked around, their eyes adjusting to the dimmer light. Finally, Stan said, “There’s a ladder, over there.”

“Trapdoor on the ceiling.” Mike said quickly.

“Let’s go out that way.” Bev said. “Come on.”

She got to the ladder first, scrambling up and putting her hands under the wooden trapdoor, pushing up. However, as much as she strained, it didn’t budge.

“The fuck?” she muttered, and glanced down at Stan and Ben. “Trapdoors aren’t locked, right?”

“Don’t think so.” Stan said. “Unless the owner of the building was suspecting an attack.”

“Or someone placed something over it.” Mike suggested. “Like a box or something. I could try pushing on it?”

Bev nodded and jumped off the ladder, and while Mike tried pushing, she went back to the door, listening to see if anyone was outside. After a minute, Mike said, “Yeah, there’s no way this is budging.”

“Okay… we’ll just go out this way, find another trapdoor.” Bev said. “Should be easy eno-”

She stopped, and after Stan and Mike both asked what was wrong, she said, “The door won’t open.”

“What?” Stan’s eyes widened in horror, as Mike rushed over and also pushed on the door. “What do you mean it won’t open.”

“I mean it won’t open!” Bev yelled. “ _God_ , as if this day couldn’t get any worse-”

“It’s- it’s probably just stuck.” Mike said quickly, sounding uncharacteristically panicked. “It’ll open, we just need to keep trying… we just need to…”

“Stan, keep trying the trapdoor.” Bev said quickly. “Mike, keep helping me with this. We need to get _out_ of here.”


	19. The Losers struggle to Open a Door

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

_The Losers struggle to Open a Door_

 

“Oh, holy shit.” Eddie muttered.

They’d managed to get to the Barrens, and found three bikes abandoned in the grass.

“You don’t think they…” Ben began.

Bill simply turned towards the sewer entrance, his face falling. “F-f-fuck.”

“Oh, goddamnit.” Richie said. “They didn’t run into the tunnels, did they?”

Bill glanced back at them, and then said, “We h-have to g-go in. Go get them.”

“How will we be able to find them?” Ben asked.

“They could be anywhere, those tunnels span the entire town!” Eddie said.

“We can’t just leave them!” Bill yelled, and before anyone could say anything else, he raced towards the sewers.

Ben, without thinking, raced after him, and after a moment, Richie and Eddie glanced at each other and ran off, too.

 

“We can’t be stuck.” Mike said for the millionth time. “We can’t be stuck. We can’t be…”

“There seems to be something stuck on the trapdoor.” Stan said from the ladder. “Maybe someone accidentally put a chair over it or something.”

“Or something fell.” Bev said, standing at the bottom of the ladder and looking increasingly worried. “It’s so dark, does anyone have a lighter?”

“No!” Mike said quickly.

Stan jumped, and then quickly said, “Bev, you know none of us carry matches.”

“Wait, shit, I might have something.” Bev said, digging into her pockets. “I mean, Richie usually has the lighter, but… thank _God_.”

She pulled out a lighter, flipping it on so they could see by the dim firelight. Mike jumped, looking quite freaked out, but Stan just looked up, saying, “Okay, I’m seeing our mark on the trapdoor, so it’s definitely one of ours.”

“Was that in doubt?” Bev asked.

“Well, it didn’t open.”

“Who else would build a trapdoor in these tunnels?”

“Firestarters. And then our Chaperones lock it up so we don’t mistakenly walk into it.” Stan paused, looking up. “Hold on! I found something!”

“What?” Bev rushed over, holding the lighter closer.

“I think there’s a number code.” Stan said, pointing to some small dials on the side that did indeed have numbers etched in them. “You know any number codes?”

“Try 2264.” Bev said. “A1Z26 cypher, translates to ‘VFD.’”

Stan tried, and then pushed again. Nothing.

“Can you…” Mike asked, glancing at Bev’s lighter, “Can you put that out?”

Bev paused, a little confused. “I… we need the light.”

“We can see alright without it.”

“Yeah, but this makes things a lot better.”

“Please, just…” Mike began. “Please, can we put that out? If you drop it, we’ll… we’ll be trapped in a room on fire, please-”

“That won’t happen.” Bev said. “Trust me, I won’t drop this.”

Stan flinched a bit, and he said, “I can work without light, Bev. I… I don’t much like fire, either. None of us do, you know-”

“Yeah, not all of you have been _in_ a fire.” Mike said.

Bev paused, and then slowly shut off the lighter, and moved, going to sit by Mike, who curled up against the wall. “You’ve been in a fire?”

Mike was silent for a moment, staring into the darkness. Then, he said, “Firestarters got to my parents’ house before I could get recruited the- the normal way. They didn’t know I was there, or maybe they did and they just didn’t want me. I just… I woke up and there was smoke, and my door was blocked, something was blocking it, and my parents…” he took a deep breath, and Bev could see he was holding back tears. “They tried to get to me. By the time the official fire department got there, they…”

He bit back a sob, and Bev immediately shoved her lighter into her pocket and threw her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she could. Stan, also, dropped off the ladder and rushed over without a second thought to join in the hug.

Quietly, Bev said, “Got it. No fire.”

“I just… I don’t like being stuck here.” Mike said quietly. “I don’t like being stuck anywhere.”

“We won’t be stuck for long.” Stan said, and he and Bev pulled away a bit. “I’ll keep working on the trapdoor. Bev, can you keep working on the other door?”

“Yeah.” she paused, and then said, “Mike, um… I’m sorry about…”

“It’s fine.” Mike said quickly.

“No, it’s not.” Bev said quietly.

They were silent after that, for a very long time.

 

“This is dumb.” Eddie said after the second hour. “This is dumb and we don’t have a plan and we’re _all going to die_ , we’re all going to _fucking die_ , holy shit, this is the worst thing we’ve ever done, holy _fuck_ -”

“Eddie,” Richie said calmly, “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to take this duct tape in my pocket, and shove the entire roll down your throat.”

“How long have you had duct tape in your pocket?” Ben asked quietly.

“ _That’s_ your question?” Eddie glared at him.

“C-c-calm down.” Bill said. “We’ve on-only been here f-f-for a b-bit.” After a second, he called, “Stan! Beverly! Mike!”

“Bev!” Richie yelled.

“If we’re home late,” Eddie said, “My Mom will skin me alive. And then axe-murder all of you. And then resurrect my corpse-”

“Eds, your imagination’s going nuts again.” Richie said. “Besides, your Mom wouldn’t kill me, she _loves_ -”

“Don’t call me Eds, and shut the fuck up before I punch you in the face.”

“If you can reach up there.”

“Oh, for _fuck’s sake-_ ”

“St-stop it!” Bill yelled, turning around and glaring at them. “We’re h-here for our friends! We sh-shouldn’t be fighting!”

Richie and Eddie stared at him for a second, a little ashamed, before Eddie said, “Sorry, Bill.”

“We’re just… stressed.” Richie admitted.

“We’re all stressed.” Ben said. “If Bev got hurt- or Mike, or Stan-”

“They w-won’t.” Bill said. “They w-w-won’t be-because we’re going to find them.” He paused, and then turned around and kept walking, still yelling for his friends.

Slowly, Ben moved over and grabbed Eddie’s hand, a brief comfort in the stressful dark. “Do you think they’re okay?” he asked quietly.

“Ye-yeah.” Eddie said awkwardly. “Yeah, I’m sure they’re… uh, not dead. Like we are. We are _so_ fucking dead.”

“Comforting, Eds.” Richie muttered.

“ _Don’t call me that_!”

“Hold on!” Bill said, holding up a hand as they turned a corner. “I th-think I hear someone.”

They paused, and then heard a thump, and a very muffled, though very familiar, “Shit!”

 

“So…” Bev said, after several minutes of silence, “How… how’d you get recruited? If you weren’t…”

Mike paused, playing with the hem of his shirt and watching the door, wondering if Bev needed more help trying to get it open. “Um… well, I was with my- my actual grandparents for about a week, then my Grandfather said we were going on a trip and took me on the _Prospero_.”

“Oh.” Stan and Bev both said, nodding, recognizing the name.

“So you had an international recruitment process?” Stan asked.

“A bit.” Mike said. “I got transferred to Peru first, and then got tossed to Europe, and then went back here. Although, of course, nobody thought to tell me what was going on at first, so I assumed I was being kidnapped and tried to jump ship. Was not fun.”

“I thought I’d been kidnapped, too,” Bev said, “But I didn’t really try to run, especially once I figured out VFD wasn’t gonna hurt me. What about you, Stan?”

“Freaking terrified. I was six.” Stan said quietly. “I, uh… haven’t seen my parents since then, but it’s… I mean, you guys don’t have any, so I don’t have anything to complain about.”

“It’s not a competition, Stan.” Bev said, before throwing her weight against the door again. “If anything, I’ve got the least to complain about, I up and killed mine.”

“Are you ever gonna tell us about how exactly that went down?” Stan asked.

“Eventually.” Bev’s voice dropped slightly.

“Stan, I think you’re going to fall.” Mike said carefully, watching Stan perch on the ladder and use both his hands to move the number dials, trying to move through possibilities faster.

“I don’t think so.” Stan said, as Bev threw herself against the door again. “I think I-”

At that moment, the ladder shook slightly, and Stan fell on the ground, letting out a loud, “ _Shit_!”

“Are you okay?” Bev and Mike both asked, immediately rushing towards him.

“Yeah, I’ve fallen from greater heights.” Stan said, sitting up and rubbing his head. “God, give me a minute and I can try again.”

“I’ll take over,” Mike offered, “You help Bev with the door.”

“I’ve almost got it.” Bev lied. “I… I think.”

“Maybe we could use the ladder as a bludgeon.” Mike paused. “Bludgeon? That’s not the word I’m looking for.”

“Battering ram?” Bev offered.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“I don’t think it’d be that strong.” Stan said. “I-”

“Shut up.” Bev said, and they all stopped talking, hearing what sounded like a flurry of footsteps, rushing towards them.

“Do we normally-” Stan began, until they all heard a familiar voice.

“Shit, shit, guys, slow the fuck down, holy shit-”

“Eddie?” Bev asked, her face paling.

The footsteps slid to a stop outside the door, and they heard, “St-Stan?”

The kids looked to each other, all terrified, and Stan responded, “ _Bill_?”

 

“Thank God!” Bill yelled, and the other kids sighed.

Ben called, “Is Bev with you? Mike?”

“We’re here.” came Bev’s muffled voice, from behind the door. “The door’s stuck.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out!” Richie called. He glanced at the ground, and said, “It looks like there’s a dirt buildup under the door.”

Ben inspected the bottom of the door, too, and said, “It looks like someone ran by really quick and wasn’t watching what they were kicking.”

“We c-can move it.” Bill said. As they bent down to move the dirt, and they heard one of the kids on the other side try to move the door, Bill asked, “Wh-what happened? Why are you here?”

“Why are _you_ here?” was Bev’s answer.

“Following you!” Eddie called. “We saw your bikes and-”

“We were chased.” Stan interrupted. “Some people were chasing us, we don’t know who-”

“Well,” Bill said quickly, sounding panicked, “I’m gl-glad you’re okay.”

“Go ahead try the door.” Eddie said, and the boys stepped back.

It shook, budging slightly, as someone threw their weight against it. Then, Mike called, “We’re gonna try again, stand back!”

After another push, the door flew open, and Mike, Stan and Bev fell on the ground, letting out surprised yells as they hit the ground. The boys were still for a second, and then Ben ran forward towards Bev, who sat up first, and hugged him, before turning to Mike and Stan dragging them into a hug, too. After only an instant, Richie ran forwards to join, and then Eddie and Bill, and soon all seven of them were gripping to each other, shaking and muttering, “Don’t fucking do that again!” and “I’m so glad to see you” to each other whenever they could.

Finally, Bill pulled away, and said, “What h-happened?”

“We were chased, like we said.” Stan said quietly. “Some adults. We don’t know-”

“Do you think-” Ben glanced towards Bill, who nodded, and then wandered into the room. Slowly, everyone stood up and followed him.

“The trapdoor’s the only thing in here.” Stan said.

Bill glanced at it, while Richie rushed over and said, “Oh, cool, number dials! You know the passcode?”

“If we did, we wouldn’t have gotten stuck here.” Stan said sourly.

“How did you find us?” Bev asked Bill, glancing towards him.

“Just h-heard you.” Bill said. “We were wandering these tunnels for a f-few hours. Eddie, do you r-remember the way out?”

“A bit.” Eddie said.

“A _bit_?”

“Can you really expect me to map these tunnels in my mind the second I see them?”

“Well, the only oth-other way out is the tr-trapdoor, and since we c-can’t open it-”

“Got it.” Richie said simply, and pushed the trapdoor open, letting dim light into the tunnel.

The kids all turned to stare at him, and he said, “What?”

“How did you… guess the code?” Stan asked cautiously.

Richie shrugged. “It was the third guess.”

“Your _third guess_ was _right_?” Bev asked.

“You just start from the beginning.” Richie shrugged. “Zero-Zero-Zero-Zero. That doesn’t work, Zero-Zero-Zero-One.”

“And the code was Zero-Zero-Zero-Two?” Mike asked.

“Zero-Zero-One-One.” Richie said. “Now are we getting the hell outta here or do you wanna spend the night?”

The kids glanced to each other as Richie shimmied up the ladder, and Eddie moved next, followed closely by Bill and Ben. Bev, Mike and Stan sent each other worried glances before getting in line for the ladder.

They climbed out, sitting on a paved floor, glancing around a dark room, lined with shelves full of board games and old toys, as well as closed plastic bins. There was a single light hanging from the wall, which Bill had moved to turn on. Eddie and Ben were standing near him, looking around curiously, while Bev, Stan and Mike gave each other a confused look.

“Do you think this is a… a secret Headquarters?” Eddie asked.

“It looks like a basement.” Bev said. “Or a cellar.”

“Whose basement is it?” Mike asked.

And then, very quietly, in a voice that immediately scared them, came a shaky, “It’s _mine_.”

The kids all turned towards Richie, who was standing in place, looking shell-shocked and a little pale. He shook slightly, looking up at the shelves, as if maybe they’d turn into something different.

“It’s…” Bill began, but Eddie put a hand on his arm to shut him up for a moment.

Richie shut his eyes, clenched his fists, and said, “You guys should get out.”

“Rich-” Bev started towards him.

Richie backed away, and said, “Library tomorrow? Or Quarry?”

They all glanced to each other, and then to Bill, wondering what to say, what to _do_.

Finally, Bill said, “My house. After sch-school. Immediately.”

“Got it.” Richie said, his voice distant, and then he said, “Now, go. Before my parents see you.”


	20. Bill Denbrough does some Impulsive Shit

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

_Bill Denbrough does some Impulsive Shit_

 

Bill really didn’t want to split up, especially after they’d been in the tunnel for what seemed to be around four or five hours, but they didn’t have a choice. Ben walked Eddie home, with the latter saying if he wasn’t back soon his Mom would have a heart attack. Bev said she’d walk home by herself, or else her Mom would freak, too. Mike biked home alone, and Stan was the only one who managed to walk back with Bill.

When they said goodbye outside his door, Bill said, “B-be careful. I d-don’t want anyone else to g-g-go missing.”

Stan looked at him, with an unreadable sadness in his eyes, as he said, “Don’t worry, Bill. Everything will be okay soon.”

Bill sighed and went to his door, unlocking it swiftly and shutting it behind him, kicking off his shoes and pushing them under a bench. He was about to run up to his room when he heard his Dad’s voice, off in the direction of the kitchen.

He froze for a second, his first instinct being to go upstairs and let them ignore him. They barely talked to him, even less so since Georgie vanished, he should just go upstairs and make sure he didn’t bother them.

But before he could even go near the stairs, he felt an anger boiling in his chest. If his parents were in VFD… if they let Georgie get kidnapped…

Slowly, Bill moved towards the kitchen, waiting just on the other side of the wall, listening.

“-not much.” came his Dad’s voice. “I didn’t think we would, anyway. How’re things here?”

“Quiet, as usual.” was his Mom’s voice. “What’s in the bag?”

“Stuff we confiscated from the optometrist. We’ll be testing it out once we get the Hypnosis book from the Library.”

Bill shut his eyes, holding back tears.

His Dad shouldn’t be confiscating things from optometrists. That wasn’t in his job description, that wasn’t… Bill took a deep breath. It made sense. He just had wished it didn’t.

“Well, put it in the cellar.” his Mom said. “Next to the batteries.”

“What if Bill gets to them?”

“He won’t. He never goes in the cellar, what’s he gonna find down there? Anyway, I-”

Bill wondered if he should move, move before they found him. But he couldn’t just go upstairs, couldn’t be alone with his thoughts, not when his parents were hiding something that could help him find Georgie.

But what would he _do_ when he found Georgie? They could never go home. Their parents had set him up to get kidnapped, were they going to set _him_ up to…

_Stop thinking, Bill. Start moving._

Bill slowly backed away, and, as quickly and quietly as he could, he made his way to the cellar. He opened the door, going down the stairs and struggling not to let them creak. When he made it to the floor, he glanced around, looking for a decent hiding spot.

Of course there was nothing. Nothing except…

Bill raced to the shelves, not allowing himself enough time to think about what a bad plan this was, and grabbed some rope. He raced towards the trapdoor, opening it and feeling on the wall of the tunnel underneath it. There had to be… there! He felt a notch under it, like he suspected; if the floor was far down, his parents would want something to hook a rope onto. He tied the rope to it as fast as he could, then tossed the end down, watching it fall and listening. He thought he heard a sound within a few seconds, meaning it couldn’t be that far of a drop. Slowly, he glanced towards the staircase that led up to the door, and grabbed onto the rope, swinging himself down into the darkness.

He thumped against the wall and flinched, gripping hard onto the rope. He wasn’t great at climbing, but he could do it well enough for now. Slowly he reached up and grabbed the trapdoor, shutting it over him.

This could go wrong in so many way. His Dad could realize he was down here. He could fall. Someone could kick a box over the top of the trapdoor and he could be stuck down here until someone found out where he was, and then he’d be in deep shit.

But he wanted to know when his Dad was putting that stuff away, and he needed to get it before he could change his mind and move it.

Bill took a shaky breath, trying to adjust his eyes to the lack of light. He stayed as still as possible, waiting and waiting for a sound on the cellar stairs.

It took a minute, but finally he heard steps on the creaky stairs. He remained still for several minutes, hearing a bag being pushed across the ground- probably under a shelf, he could definitely find it then.

He waited a moment to see if his Dad was going to leave, but he didn’t hear anything on the steps. His hands were starting to hurt, having gripped the rope for several minutes now.

Bill glanced down, thinking he might see a ground close by, but it was a bit hard to tell, as it was still incredibly dark. Maybe he could rest for a second down there. And… if what he _thought_ was down there was down there… he needed to know.

Slowly, he moved down the rope, trying his best not to look down, not to try and guess how far he could fall. He kept climbing down, trying to be as quiet as possible in case his Dad was still in the basement. He wondered briefly if this was a good idea, but, well, it was better than waiting until his grip gave out and he tumbled to the bottom.

When he felt ground underneath his feet, he dropped and wildly flapped his hands, trying to get them to stop aching. He glanced around, his eyes adjusting to the dim light, seeing only a dark room and a door on the other side.

And, God, did that look familiar.

Bill held back more tears as he moved to the door, pushing it open.

Outside were the tunnels.

Well, if he had a doubt his parents were in VFD before, he had none now.

Bill shut the door and backed up against the far wall, sinking to the floor. He’d suspected this before, of course, but the evidence being shoved in his face…

_Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it._

He was probably safe at home, VFD didn’t seem to want him for some reason, but _God_ if he wasn’t going to feel like shit having to sleep in the same house as his _fucking_ parents. They kept this a secret for his entire life, they _let Georgie get kidnapped_ , they let him think the police could find him, they let him think he might come back…

He couldn’t ever bring Georgie home. When he found Georgie, he’d have to… God, where could they go? Anywhere. Anywhere could be better than here.

Bill waited a few more minutes, and then he went back to the rope and started climbing back up, focusing only on the rope and his movement, trying not to think about anything else.

He touched the trapdoor lightly, listening in case his Dad was still in the basement, walking around. Slowly, he pushed it open, peering out, and when he didn’t see anyone, he climbed out, untied the rope, and put it back on the shelf, before kneeling on the ground and peering under each shelf to look for the bag. He found it in the corner of the room, and he dragged it out, before shoving it under his arm and quietly moving up the stairs, watching his step and moving as slowly as possible to minimize noise. He softly shut the cellar door behind him, before going to the stairs and rushing to his room as fast as possible.

Soon as he reached his room, Bill locked the door and sat in the corner, opening the bag and reaching in to see what was inside.

At first, he just saw some optometry books. When he pulled those out, however, placing them next to him, he saw a small box underneath. He opened it to see what looked like slides for a projector. He paused, considering, and remembered quickly that they had a projector in the garage. So he shoved the box under his bed, and reached back into the bag, to see if there was anything he missed.

There was.

And he knew what it was the second he grabbed it.

So, carefully, he pulled out the item, and stared down at the half-spyglass in his hands.

Bill flipped it, seeing the lid with the Eye on top. He could immediately see the letters in the symbol- _VFD, VFD, VFD_.

Bill shoved the spyglass under his bed, too, and then he took the bag, sneaking it back downstairs. He probably didn’t need to be so quiet. It wasn’t as if his parents would notice. They didn’t care about anything he did. Still, he couldn’t risk it. If they knew he _knew_ …

As soon as he shoved the bag back under the shelf and went back upstairs, he checked the other rooms to make sure his parents weren’t on the first floor. Then, slowly, he went to the phone and rang up Ben’s number, the number he’d memorized just in case.

 _This is dumb._ He thought. _Ben’ll be asleep. His Mom’ll be asleep, too. He won’t-_

“Hello?”

Bill let out a relieved sigh. “Ben?”

“Yeah.” Ben said. “I can’t sleep, I don’t think I… what is it?”

“I f-f-found stuff.” Bill said quietly, glancing towards the stairs again. “A lot of stuff. In the cellar. You were r-r-right. Ab-about my p-parents. I f-f-found all their… stuff.”

Silence. Then, “Bill, are you sure?”

“Ab-absolutely. It’s got…” Bill paused. What if his parents were listening outside the door? What if Ben’s Mom was listening in? He let his voice drop to as quiet a whisper as he could muster. “Got their s-symbol.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“I’ll m-make my pa-parents leave t-tomorrow. I’ll th-think of s-something.” Bill said, wondering how exactly he was going to do that. “We’re all m-meeting here an-anyway. You kn-know how to w-work a…”

“Work what?”

Bill glanced towards the hall again. What would he do if his Mom came down for a drink of water, or his Dad came down to check the cellar again, and they heard him talking about projectors? Like the stuff they’d taken from the optimist- or was it optometrist? Shit, he didn’t _care_.

“Nevermind. I…” he took a breath. “We’re gonna ne-need to let the oth-others know everything. We need to be on g-guard. We c-can’t let th-them go missing.”

Ben paused, and then said, “Do you think Bev…”

“If she is-isn’t at sc-school, and doesn’t sh-show up at m-my house, we’ll go to hers. Sh-she should b-be here, too.”

“Of course.” Ben paused, and then said, “Bill, what are we gonna do? About _any_ of this?”

Bill shut his eyes, and then said, “I don’t know.”


	21. The Losers learn about Optometry

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

_The Losers learn about Optometry_

 

“Seriously, Eds, you’ve gotta tell me _something_.”

“Maybe if you stop _calling me that_!”

Eddie and Richie stood against the lockers, watching other kids go by.

“Come on,” Richie pleaded, not sounding as loud and confident as he normally did. “Seriously, I _know_ you, Ben and Big Bill are keeping something from me, and those tunne-”

“Keep your voice _down_!” Eddie said, glancing nervously at the small group of kids passing by them.

Richie looked through the crowded hall, and then said, “Nobody cares what we’re talking about, Eds.”

“You don’t know that.”

“What the _hell_ is up? You’ve got anxiety, yeah, I get that, but you’re not normally this… _paranoid_.”

“Look who’s talking!” Eddie said, glaring at him.

“Yeah, but I have a _reason_ , we walked out of the Derry Sewer System and walked right into my fucking basement, and I haven’t asked my parents about it ye-”

“Don’t ask them!”

Richie stared at Eddie, shocked, and then said, “Eddie, what… what do you _know_ about this?”

“Look, I… I think Bill’ll go over it tonight. If he doesn’t, I’ll… I’ll tell you all. But I don’t wanna have to talk about it more than I have to.” Eddie took a sharp breath. “It… it might be about my Dad, and…”

Quietly, Richie glanced away, and then said, “We should get to class.”

“Yeah.”

They found their way to their first class, sitting in their seats and not looking at each other. Eddie fiddled with his shirt, hoping that nobody noticed he had a certain half-spyglass shoved deep into his pocket. Richie stared out the window and played with his hands, staring out the window and trying to forget everything on his mind.

Other students filtered in, and the boys could spot their friends. Ben, then Stan, and then Bill, who looked more exhausted than even yesterday.

They all noticed that Bev didn’t arrive by the time class started, and they all knew why she wasn’t there. None of them said anything. They just glanced at each other, a silent agreement among them.

Don’t talk about it. And check up on her after school.

She’s our friend, she’s one of us now. We’ve gotta make sure she’s okay.

 

“Do you think they’ll show up?” Eddie asked quietly.

They were all in Bill’s kitchen. Bill was grabbing snacks out of the cabinet, while the other boys sat around the table, homework spread out, hoping they could get some done before they started. Bill was hoping they could get started very, very soon.

“Mike will.” Ben said, convinced. “Bev… if she doesn’t, we’ll go over to her house. Bring her over whether her Mom likes it or not.”

“And you’re sure your parents won’t be here?” Eddie glanced towards Bill, who pulled out a box of health bars.

“I w-was gonna t-tell them I n-needed stuff from the store,” Bill said, “But, as l-luck would have it, both M-Mom and Dad were going out anyway.”

It wasn’t luck, and he knew it. As soon as they left, he went to the cellar and realized the bag was missing, and he was struck with a cold fear. If they realized the projector slides were gone… well, they might figure out he took them. And if they figured out _why_ …

_Just get this done quick, and then shove the box of slides under the shelf. They’ll think it fell out. But keep the spyglass. They might just think that’s lost. You might need it._

He didn’t know when he might need it, why he might need it. But he didn’t want to lose it.

The doorbell rang, and Stan said, “That’ll be one of them, probably.”

Bill walked over to answer the door, and pleasantly surprised to see both Mike and Bev outside the door, chatting amiably. “Bev!” he said, smiling.

Bev laughed a little, and said, “Oh, guess Mike doesn’t exist, then.”

“Sorry, we just… did-didn’t think you were c-coming.”

Bev shrugged, as Mike also laughed a bit. “Yeah, my Mom was _pissed_ , and we decided it was best for me not to go to school for a bit, but she said I could go out so long as I didn’t come home late again.”

“G-good.” Bill said. “We’re actually m-meeting in the g-garage, let me g-g-get the others and m-meet you there.”

“Gotcha.” Bev nodded, as Bill raced back to the kitchen.

He walked in, saying, “They m-made it.”

“Both of them?” Ben asked, excited.

“Y-yeah. Now g-go to the Garage, let me g-get my stuff. Who can s-set up a projector while I’m gone?”

“I can.” Stan, Ben and Richie all said.

“One of you d-do that.” Bill said. “I’ll be r-right out.”

As the boys wandered out, Bill put the box of bars away, shoving it back into the cabinet. He then turned, and stared at the empty room ahead of him.

He couldn’t go back after this, could he?

Well, now that he thought about it, he’d passed that point long ago.

Slowly, Bill sat at the kitchen table, and pulled the half-spyglass out of his pocket, flipping it over in his hands, studying the lid.

_VFD. VFD. VFD._

Bill shut his eyes, pocketed the spyglass, and raced upstairs to get the slides out of the box.

 

He stood outside the garage for a moment, waiting as he heard a conversation going on.

“-didn’t talk to them at all.” Richie said. “They were busy during breakfast, you know? Besides, what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, Dad, sorry to bother you, but could you explain why our basement has a trapdoor leading into a series of tunnels?’”

“What exactly do your parents do?” Ben asked.

“I dunno, business stuff. I don’t really pay attention.” Richie said quickly. “Why?”

“Yeah, what does it matter?” Bev asked.

There was a pause, and then Ben said, “Have… have any of you heard of VFD?”

There was a crash, and Bill rushed into the garage, seeing that Stan had tripped, falling into a shelf. Bev and Eddie, who were closest, rushed to help him up; he looked a bit dazed.

“Are you o-okay?” Bill asked, worried.

Stan paused, and then said, “Y-yeah. I’m fine, I just…”

He looked, worriedly, towards Bev, who said, “What are we doing here, Bill?”

“I…” Bill paused, then glanced towards the projector, which Richie, Ben and Mike were standing nearby. “I have sl-slides. I st-stole them from my p-parents. I th-think they’re important.”

Bev met Stan’s gaze, and then glanced at Mike, and said, “Okay. Okay, let’s… let’s see what’s here.”

They picked up the stuff that had fallen from the shelf, shoving it back up, and then Bill put the slides into the projector. Mike turned the projector on, and the first item popped up.

An eye chart.

“Goddamn it.” Richie said, as he pulled a chair up and sat down, with Stan doing the same beside him, still looking shaky. “I hate those fucking things, I have to see ‘em every few months.”

Bill glanced at Ben, both sharing a confused look, and Bill flicked to the next slide.

Three letters, very big, were displayed.

“O-N-H.” Richie read, looking dismayed. “Is this where I get eyedrops?”

“Beep beep, Richie.” Eddie said, sitting underneath his chair, as Bev and Ben moved to sit on the edge of the table.

The next slide, five letters much smaller. Then one very small letter. Three bigger ones. Two large. Two small. One big. Five small.

“Maybe it’s a code?” Ben asked.

“It looks just like normal eye charts.” Mike added.

“I dunno.” Ben said. “I think…”

The switch flicked, and suddenly everyone jumped.

Instead of letters, they saw a photo of a burned house.

Mike instantly rushed over to Bev, sitting beside her and grabbing her hand, looking shell-shocked. Bev and Stan looked like all the blood had been sucked out of them. Richie stared, fascinated though a little frightened, and Eddie started rapidly swearing. Ben looked to Bill, who was staring with fear behind his eyes. “What is _that_?” Ben asked.

Bill slowly flipped the next switch. A sketch of a snake.

“What is this?” Eddie asked.

“Bill, what the hell _is_ all of this?” Stan asked. “What is this supposed to-”

The screen flipped, to another burned house. Mike let out a small scream, and Bev jumped to her feet. “Bill, stop it!” she yelled.

Bill paused, and then said, “I didn’t touch it.”

They froze, but the projector didn’t.

Whether something went wrong with the mechanics, or if the projector happened to be programmed somehow to respond to VFD slides, it kept moving, refusing to stop. It switched to another photo, of a small town. Then a high school, red and black decorating the walls. A hotel, half-burnt, hedges scattered across the snowy lawn.

“Bill, stop it!” Eddie yelled, as the rest of them leapt up, running behind the projector. Richie grabbed onto Eddie as he yelled, and Stan raced behind Bev, grabbing onto Mike’s arm. Ben and Bill stood behind the projector, as if fascinated by what they were seeing. Bev stepped close to them, yelling, “Shut it off!”

Another burnt hotel, reflected in a pool. A harpoon gun. A crashed car, dancing shoes scattered across the grass. Bloody croquet mallets. An alphabet, painted on the wall. A blurry photo of two kids waiting outside a store, one looking _remarkably_ like…

Bill turned towards Richie, eyes wide, seeing that Richie had gone pale, screaming slightly as he backed up, dragging Eddie with him, even as the picture changed to a photo of a handbook, of which they could only read _For the Recently_ before the it changed again, this time to a screaming face. A zombie. A sketch of a Phoenix. The word _REDRUM_ across a wall. A spyglass. A clock. A little girl, holding a charred teddy bear. A dog. A cat. A ship. An eye. _The_ Eye.

“VFD!” Ben yelled, turning to a frozen Bill. “VFD!”

“Shut it _off_!” Bev screamed, suddenly sounding terrified. “Bill, _shut it off_!”

There was more. An eye chart again, but there were only three letters, repeated over and over. _VFD. VFD. VFD._

“Turn it the fuck off!” Bev yelled, as Mike added, “Unplug it! Stan, unplug it!”

 _VFD. VFD. VFD._ _VFD. VFD._

Another burned mansion, this time one they recognized from a newspaper Bev had pulled out of the sewers.

Stan stumbled with the plug, so Mike ran forwards and kicked it. The projector fell to the ground, the slides spilling, and suddenly everything was far too quiet.

They spent about a minute just breathing and staring at each other, as Stan slowly went to open the garage door and let light in, and Ben bent down to pick up the slides and put them back in the box.

“What…” Richie finally said, “The _fuck_ … was _that_?”

“Projectors aren’t supposed to do that.” Bev said quietly.

“Fuck _no,_ they aren’t supposed to do that!” Richie responded. “What were those pictures? Burned buildings, that fucking Eye, why… why the fuck was _I_ there? I swear I've never seen that store in my life... Ben, can you find that slide? Why did it…”

“I know the Overlook.” Eddie said, almost distantly. “That burned hotel, the first one we saw. It was on the news ages ago.”

“Bill,” Stan said, very quietly, looking terrified, “Please… what was that?”

Bill looked between everyone, and then said, “I’ll… I’ll tell you everything. In… in the l-living r-r-room. Inside.”

He went in first, followed quickly by Richie, Eddie and Ben.

Left in the garage, Stan let out a cry and buried his head in Mike’s shoulder.

“They know.” he said shakily. “They know, they know, they _know_ …”

Bev and Mike just looked at each other helplessly.

_They know._


	22. The Losers learn about VFD

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

_The Losers learn about VFD_

 

“VFD.” Ben said simply.

They were all sitting in the Living Room, with Stan and Mike sitting together on the sofa, and Eddie on the other side, fiddling with his inhaler. Richie and Bev were spread out on the carpet, sharing nervous glances. Bill and Ben stood up on the other side of a table, with Ben tossing a book onto it- _The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket._

“Lemony Snicket?” Bev read. “Who’s that?”

“A… a VFD member.” Ben said.

“VFD?” Richie asked.

“Um, Volunteer Fire Department.” Ben said. “They… believe they put out fires. Both literal and figurative. But… I don’t think… Bill?”

“They took Georgie.” Bill said simply.

They all stared at him, and finally, Stan said, “Are you sure?”

“My p-parents are p-part of them.” Bill said. “And they gave p-permission to t-take Georgie.”

“It says here,” Ben said, flipping open the book to a dog-eared page, “That they recruit for their organization via kidnapping, keep the kids on the move until the police stop looking for them, and then basically brainwash them until they do what’s needed.”

“Brainwash?” Mike asked, sounding very skeptical.

“This is some kids’ book.” Bev said, sounding very cross. “It’s not real.”

“It is.” Bill said. “They run the t-tunnels we were in. My p-parents are d-d-definitely in it. Maybe Ben’s Mom and E-E-Eddie’s Dad, too.”

They all glanced to Eddie, who shrunk under the attention. “Um… he had a… a half a spyglass. With the Eye on it.” he said quietly.

“Maybe your parents are in on it, too.” Ben also added.

“No way.” Bev said.

“Definitely not.” Stan said.

“I don’t think so.” Mike added.

“What the fuck are you on?” Richie said.

“It’s not impossible.” Ben said hesitantly.

“If my Dad was in on it,” Eddie said, “Any of your parents could be. Hell, we could have a bunch of Volunteers running around town and we wouldn’t know.”

“That doesn’t seem likely.” Bev said, very slowly.

“If we f-f-find where they’re k-k-keeping Georgie,” Bill said, “We c-can’t bring him home. Because my p-parents will send him back.”

“Bill, you’re talking nonsense.” Stan said. “This book is fiction.”

“It’s _not_.” Ben said. “This Lemony Snicket guy has been investigating the Baudelaires, who are real, and-”

“The Baudelaires?” asked Bev and, surprisingly, Mike.

“Yes.” Ben said. “And they’re so tied into this VFD thing, it’s insane. The bad side of VFD has been stalking them-”

“The bad side?” Richie asked.

“There was a schism, several years ago.” Ben said. “Between the people who started fires and the people who put them out.”

“Ben, are you… are you _sure_ this is real?” Stan asked.

Ben paused, flipped through the book, and then showed them a picture. A picture of the Eye.

“Positive.” he said.

They stared for a moment, and then Bill said, “When you g-go home, don’t say an-anything. Your parents might…”

“If my parents have tunnel access,” Richie said numbly, “They _are_ part of this, aren’t they?”

Bill hesitantly nodded.

“I… Bill…” Stan began.

“I think,” Bev said carefully, “We should all compare notes. Full notes, of everything we’ve got. And then tomorrow, we’ll… figure out what to do.”

They glanced to her, and then slowly nodded.

“Tomorrow…” Eddie said. Then, he said, “Do you want to skip school tomorrow? Spend all day on this?”

“All day?” Stan asked, shocked.

“I’ll tell my Mom I don’t feel well, she’ll let me go to the pharmacy and then stay home.” Eddie said. “Then I’ll sneak out the window. Meet you here.”

Bill paused, then said, “I can skip. My p-parents won’t…”

“Sounds like a plan.” Richie said, excited at the prospect of breaking the rules.

Bev, Mike and Stan all looked terrified.

 

“So,” Stan said, very calmly, “We are officially fucked.”

The Volunteer kids had ducked into an alley on the way home; Bill hadn’t wanted them to split again, but they eventually had to, and the three of them had managed to get away for a bit.

“This is worse than we thought.” Mike said. “What are we gonna do?”

“I… I have an idea.” Bev said quietly, brushing a short strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m gonna talk to my chaperone.”

“No!” Stan and Mike both said.

“You can’t, she won’t-” Stan began.

“I won’t _tell_ her.” Bev said. “I’ll just… figure out what she might think. She’ll think I’m just asking hypotheticals out of boredom or some shit. You guys should try, too.”

“I can’t lie to them.” Stan said quickly, looking about ready to have a nervous breakdown.

“Just try not to be suspicious.” Bev said, holding back her own emotions. “Just… for better or worse, this won’t go on much longer. It can’t.”

They looked to each other, and then Mike said, “They’re… they can’t be right. About VFD. They seem scared of it.”

“I’m sure it looks scary to outsiders.” Bev said quietly.

“They talk about it like it’s a cult.” Stan said, staring into nothing. “It’s… is it? I mean… is it?”

“Of course not.” Bev said quickly. “It can’t be. It can’t… it’s not. They’re wrong. They just don’t understand… they just don’t get it. It’s okay. We’ll be…” She took a deep breath, and then said, “I’ve gotta get home. I…” she held back tears, and said, “We’ll figure something out. We’re Volunteers. We’re Volunteers, we’ll figure it out, Volunteers can always figure it out.”

“We’re Volunteers.” Mike repeated quietly.

Stan didn’t repeat it. He just grabbed his bike and left.

 

Eddie was almost home, but he stopped at the pharmacy first.

He knew what medicine could make him sick if he ate too much, but not so sick he’d actually hurt himself. He could get some of that, tell Mr. Keene they’d run out, he’d spilled some down the sink again by accident. Sorry, Mr. Keene, just put it on my Mom’s tab. Or, well, maybe it’d be safer to pay in cash, if he had enough in his fanny pack. He could try to pay upfront, then she wouldn’t even know he had any. Though, then again, she probably didn’t know exactly how well he knew his medicine.

Of course, there was the threat she’d take him to the emergency room. But usually for nausea she just put him in bed, babied him for a bit, then went downstairs and watched TV until he called for her. He could probably sneak out the window, then. He’d be fine.

He went in, trying to ignore the missing poster for Georgie still on the wall. He grabbed the medicine off the shelf, going up to Mr. Keene. “Just this.” he said. Then, after a split second, he remembered his asthma medicine needed refilled, too. “Oh, and the usual.” He said, passing over the aspirator.

Mr. Keene nodded, looking tired, as he took the container and went in the back.

Eddie waited, bouncing on his feet, digging through his fanny pack to see if he could find enough money.

“You know it’s all bullshit, right?”

Eddie jumped, whipping around and almost spilling stuff out of his pack. Gretta was leaning against the wall, flipping through a magazine and flancing up at him. Shit, he’d forgotten that her Dad ran the pharmacy, of _course_ she’d be here.

He stiffened, glaring at her. He probably shouldn’t listen to her, she probably hated him for hanging out with Bev, and he _definitely_ hated her for what she did to her. But…

“What’s bullshit?”

“Your medication.” Gretta said simply, flipping a page. “They’re placebos.”

Eddie stared at her. He thought he might’ve heard that word before. “What’s ‘placebo’ mean?”

“Placebo means ‘bullshit.’”

“That doesn’t clear anything up.”

Gretta sighed, looking up. “Do I have to explain everything to you, asshole? It’s a fake medicine. It looks like medicine, but it’s just sugar and water or some shit. You think it works because you believe in it so much.”

Eddie stared at her. “That’s… that’s not true. You’re lying, because I’m friends with Bev.”

“I couldn’t give less of a shit who hangs out with the little murderer and who doesn’t.” Gretta said sharply. “I give a shit cause you’re always in this fucking place, making my Dad work to pretend you’re sick all the time. And your Mom yells at him all day, so it’d be nice if she wasn’t around as much.”

Eddie kept staring at her. “You… you’ve got to be lying. I am sick.”

“You’re not. You’re not even asthmatic, I don’t think.” Gretta said sharply, putting her magazine down slightly. “You’re not sick. You’re just nuts. And your Mom’s nuts, too.”

Eddie started fiddling with his shorts, eyes wide. She was wrong, she had to be _wrong_ … “Why would you tell me this?”

Gretta stared at him for a second, and then said, “I don’t like liars, kid. Like your Mom. She’s a liar. And a bit of a bitch, every time she’s here.”

Before Eddie could say anything else, Mr. Keene came back, handing over the medicine and aspirator. Eddie numbly took them, handing over some cash. He took his change, and spared Gretta a nervous glance as he pocketed the meds.

“I’ll walk you out, Kaspbrak.” Gretta said, sounding suddenly sweet. She flashed an innocent smile at her Dad, then grabbed Eddie’s arm and dragged him down an aisle. As they got to the door, and she pushed him outside, she shut it behind them and said, “I’m not lying, kid.”

“You could be.” Eddie said, anger and fear giving him the courage to retort. “You’ve been a bitch to Bev all year, and I don’t think you like me or my friends, either.”

Gretta glared at him, and then said, “I don’t. Meaning I don’t care enough to bullshit you. I just want you to piss off, kay?”

Eddie paused, then grabbed his aspirator, holding it up and reading a small label on the side.

_Hydrox Mist, administer as needed._

He stared, suddenly realizing something. Real Medicine wouldn’t be labelled _administer as needed_ , would it? If someone decided _administer as needed_ meant _overdose yourself for shits and giggles_ , that medicine could kill someone.

Unless it wasn’t medicine.

“Hey,” Gretta said casually, faking a smile and pushing him a bit further, “Maybe your girlfriend can murder your Mom for you. Then you won’t have to take placebos every time you get scared by your own shadow.”

“She’s not-” Eddie began, then he shook his head. “Piss off.”

“Gladly.” Gretta smiled, flipped him off, then went back inside.

Eddie stared after her, and then looked down as the aspirator.

_Hydrox Mist, administer as needed._

_Administer as needed._

Eddie shut his eyes and clenched his fists. _Administer as…_

He threw his aspirator to the ground, and impulsively kicked it into the nearest sewer grate.

He was going to be in so much shit.


	23. The VFD Kids Talk to their Chaperones

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**   
_The VFD Kids talk to their Chaperones_

 

Mike got home first, and he wasn’t going to ask his Chaperones about Bill. About what to do when someone was about to find them out. He wasn’t going to do that, no. He didn’t want to do that. They’d get suspicious, or he’d get in trouble, or both. But he could ask some things, maybe they could clarify some things that were bothering him.

He parked his bike beside the house, and glanced towards the fence, where the sheep might be. He liked the sheep; he liked all the animals, really. The Volunteers thought he might like to keep animals while he was at Headquarters, until he convinced them that no, really, he wanted to be a Historian. Maybe even a Librarian. He liked animals, sure, but he liked books more.

But…

He’d been in VFD since he was Eight. He remembered the day of the fire, it was etched into his memory. He still couldn’t look at a match without his breath catching in his throat, remembering the flames around him, outside the door, inside his room. He’d been trapped until the Official Fire Department had reached the house, coming in the window and dragging him out, kicking and screaming and sobbing, begging them to get his parents, he couldn’t hear them anymore, they could be hurt, _please_ just get them first!

He’d been lucky enough to not see an arson since then; most other Volunteer kids could recount stories of Headquarters that had burned behind them, or of Chaperone houses that had been found out, or of buildings they’d passed by with older Volunteers. But he’d been able to not see anything after the first fire. He wasn’t sure he could handle another one. He’d have to if he wanted to be a Librarian, he figured, Firestarters often targeted Libraries, but… well, he could figure that out eventually.

Eventually. It’d been five years, almost, and he still didn’t have it, did he? Five years in VFD. Five years of secrets and codes. And he still didn’t know everything he needed. He sometimes felt like he didn’t know anything.

He walked in the door, moving through the house a bit to see if he could find his Chaperones. They might be out, they might be busy…

Oh, nope. L was sitting in the kitchen, maps and plans spread across the table for something.

“Hey, uh, can I ask a question?” Mike asked hesitantly.

L glanced up, not really paying attention. “Always, kid.”

Mike paused. “Uh, the whole… the recruitment thing.” L looked up sharply, and Mike hesitated, before saying, “I was just… you guys talk to the parents first, right?”

L paused, then said, “Of course. All parents are notified, unless the parents are dangerous or deceased, and in the latter case a guardian is informed.”

Mike really wanted to believe that, and also really wanted to believe the pang in his chest was just from the mention of deceased parents. “Like my grandparents?”

“Yeah, you know that they knew you were going.”

Mike still hesitated, remembering how panicked he’d been when he realized his Grandfather had left him on the _Prospero_ with a stranger. It was not a good feeling, and it didn’t go away even after everything had been explained to him.

“Why do you want to know?”

 _Because my friends think we’re a cult and I feel like I might have to defend us at some point._ “I was just… thinking about my recruitment. It was different from the others.”

“Yes, sometimes we have to part from tradition, given certain circumstances.”

“How did…” Mike paused. “How did Firestarters find my parents?”

“We don’t know. Perhaps they followed them home from a mission, or their location was given away in some other way.”

He spoke so simply, as if he was talking about a work mistake, not the death of one of someone he _must_ have known. Mike bit back a remark, and then said, “Uh, are there… are there other Volunteers in town?”

“Why?”

He was asking too many specific questions, he was acting suspicious. “I just… we can’t be the only ones, right?”

“No, we’re not.” L admitted. “We trade supplies with the ones stationed in town.”

“Why don’t they stay with us? Talk to us?”

“You need to focus on your studies, Michael. If you want to be a Historian for our organization, you can’t be distracted.”

Mike stared at him for a second, and then quietly said, “Okay. I better… do that now.”

“Yes, you should.”

Mike walked off, then sat on the staircase and stared at the wall for a very long time. He didn’t cry. He thought he might, he did that often when thinking about his parents. But he didn’t. Instead he just thought.

_They’re wrong. They have to be wrong. My parents were in VFD. I’ve been in VFD. We’re right. We have to be… they’re wrong. They’re wrong and we’ll figure out what to do about them. They’re wrong, but they can’t find out. They hate VFD, they’ll hate us. They’ll hate us._

_Stop thinking._

He slowly stood up and went to his room, and pulled out a book, and tried his best to read.

 _We’ll figure it out._ He said to himself, on repeat. _We’re Volunteers. We’ll figure it out…_

 

“Got you ice cream, Marsh. Pistachio, your favorite.”

Bev glanced up, smiling slightly, and said, “Maybe later, A. Thanks, though.”

“Well, it’s in the freezer, when you want it.” A said, moving to sit on the couch, picking up a newspaper. Bev bounced slightly on her stool, glancing to the books on her left, stacked on the shelf in impeccable library order. She steadied herself, about to ask her Chaperone what, hypothetically, she should do if someone found out about VFD, but A spoke to her first.

“Marsh, I’m going out tonight. I won’t be back until next Monday, I’m bringing in a recently graduated apprentice to watch you.”

Bev paused, staring at her. “I… I don’t need watching, ma’am.”

“Apparently you do.” A narrowed her eyes, and Bev flinched. “If you go around bragging to everyone that you killed that son of a-”

“I wasn’t bragging. They figured it out and were-”

“I don’t care what they were doing.”

Bev flinched back. A was usually much nicer to her, but… of course she was stressed about this, stressed they might be moved again, stressed that Bev had gotten herself into trouble. She always got upset when Bev fucked up, and Bev hated upsetting her. She didn’t want to upset her, she was part of the organization that saved her. She couldn’t… she couldn’t upset her any more.

“Sorry, ma’am.”

A sighed, reaching forwards and moving a hand over Bev’s short hair. “It’s not your fault, Beverly. They just don’t understand you.” She pulled back, placing her newspaper beside her. “Anyway, I’ll be at Headquarters. My replacement will be here shortly.”

“You… you said they were recently graduated?”

“Yes. Training to be a Chaperone. Technically still training, this will be her first assessment. If you’re still alive when I get back, she passes.”

Was that how low the bar was? Bev shrugged, and said, “Alright. Are you getting called back because of me?”

“No, no. There’s other matters.” A paused, and then said, “Marsh, dear, didn’t you say you were hanging out with some boys from town?”

Bev flinched, trying not to remember the last time someone had asked her if she was spending her time with boys. “Um, just some kids from school. I’m in a study group.”

“A study group?”

“Yes, that’s where I was after the… when I got lost. They wanted to make sure I was okay. I told you about them, remember?”

“Who’s in this study group, again?”

Bev’s mind raced, trying to remember who she’d said before so that her Chaperone couldn’t accuse of leaving out information. _Don’t say Bill,_ was her first thought. _They won’t like him. I think I mentioned Stan; even if she doesn’t want me to talk to Volunteers, she would like him, and I can play dumb if she asks me if he’s one of us. Not Mike, should only mention one Volunteer kid in case she gets suspicious, plus he’s homeschooled, so he wouldn’t be in the study group. The others should be fine._

“Um, I’m trying to remember full names.” Bev paused. “Uh, Ben Hanscom. He’s very nice, really into History. He’d be a good-”

“Who else is there?” Her voice sounded caring, but there was something cold. Something A usually didn’t sound like when talking to Bev.

“Stan Uris.” Bev said quickly, surprised by the interruption. “He’s… well, then there’s Eddie Kaspbrak. And Richie Tozier.”

A stared at her, and then said, “You’re spending time with Uris?”

“Is that a problem?” She felt a bit of anger course through her, though she wasn’t sure why.

A studied her, then said, “No. I just know his Father, that’s all. Good man. Is that all?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“No girls in the group?”

Bev knew it wasn’t A’s fault, but she instantly felt her stomach clench at that assessment, and her mind was screaming at her to _run, run for the windows, Bevvy, he thinks you’re…_ “No. They don’t like me. Gretta’s in charge of them all, so…”

“I doubt that.” A said. “They’re not a hivemind.” She paused, and then said, “Ben Hanscom… who’s that again?”

“Um, he’s… got brown hair, a bit overweight, always has books with him. He’s very... nice. A good Historian, like I said. He’d make a good Librarian, I think.”

A nodded a bit, then said, “And… Richie Tozier? Isn’t that the one who cussed out the Librarians?”

 _Shit, did he?_ “I hadn’t heard about that.”

“And Eddie Kaspbrak?” something in her voice sounded off there, too. “I’ve heard of the Kaspbraks before.”

Bev had to hold back a _His Dad might have been One of Us_ , because how could she explain that? “Um, I don’t know much about him. Very nervous, but good at memorization, I think I mentioned that? He managed to memorize lots about medicine so he can be a… proper hypochondriac.” She laughed slightly. A didn’t. After a second, Bev said, “Are you okay?”

A glanced towards her, and then said, “Marsh, what are you doing tomorrow?”

“Not going to school, I bet.”

“No. I want you to stay inside the house.”

“Um, my study group-”

“I want you to leave them alone.”

Bev flared up. “What?”

“At least until I get back, then we can discuss things. Just stay here and complete your studies. See if you can get the Carnival costume done. Just don’t talk to them for a while.”

Bev stood up, anger filling her gaze as she kicked the stool back. “Ma’am, I’m not leaving them. They’re my friends, I can’t-”

A also stood up, staring her down. “Marsh, I am your Chaperone. You will do what I say.”

“But _why_?”

“You don’t need to know why, you need to follow orders.”

“I…” Bev’s breath caught in her throat, then she shook her head. “No. No, I’m not just abandoning them.”

In the heat of the moment, she made a stupid decision. A stupid thought, one she’d probably regret in five minutes, one she’d regret while walking out. Nevertheless, she jumped to her feet, rushing out the room.

“Marsh!” A called, running after her as Bev neared the stairs. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting my stuff,” Bev said, almost shouting, “And I’m going to Ben’s. I’ll see you Monday.”

She didn’t know why Ben was the first one who came to her head. She could go to Richie’s- no, he had Volunteer tunnels in his house, A could catch her there. Same with Stan, Mike and Bill. And she was sure Eddie’s Mom didn’t like her, from what he’d mentioned. Besides, Ben seemed safe.

“Marsh! You are not to leave this house, you can’t interfere!”

“Interfere in what?” Bev was almost to the top of the stairs now, having to turn to shout at A, who stood at the landing. “What could you possibly be doing?”

“It’s a Volunteer matter, and you are still an apprentice. Get down here this instant.”

“No!” A started following her, then, so Bev raced up farther, going into her simple room and grabbing her emergency bag- water, enough food for three days, a change of clothes and some books. She ran back out, breaking past A in the hall, heading for the stairs.

“Marsh, you are _not leaving this house_!”

“Fuck you!” Bev flipped her off as she walked, moving a bit faster than she normally did.

“Marsh! Beverly!”

“I’m going to Ben’s!” Bev screamed, not sure she was thinking straight, not sure she cared. “I’m going to Ben’s and I’m going to-”

“ _Bevvy_!”

Instantly, Bev froze.

Her mind was already panicking, so her thoughts instantly went to that word, that word repeated, _Where are you going, Bevvy? Don’t go, Bevvy. You know I love you, Bevvy. I worry about you, Bevvy. I worry a lot._

_What were you doing, Bevvy? Where are you doing, Bevvy?_

_I worry a lot._

She didn’t notice A had grabbed her arm, her mind immediately taking her back to every time she heard that nickname, every time she felt a dread build up inside her, threatening to burst if she heard it one more time…

A should have known she hated that name. She should’ve…

“I apologize, Marsh, but you are not leaving this house.” A said sharply. “I think you need to remember where your loyalties lie. In fact, I think tonight you should sleep in the basement. No windows to climb out of, right, dear?”

Her mind went suddenly from “prepared to burst” to a dull numbness. A dull numbness, saying, _Just do it. Do what she wants, and you won’t get hurt, Bevvy._

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Put your bag down. You can take your nightgown and a book.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Tomorrow, you’ll stay in this house, and you’ll stay until I return.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Slowly, Bev handed her bag over to A, and then turned to her room to grab her things.

Don’t fight it, Bevvy. Just do what they say.

_Sorry, boys._

 

Stan didn’t dare talk to his Chaperones.

They were busy, anyway. D was busy with his birds, and J was taking care of her lamps and lights, making sure they could transmit codes if need be. But Stan knew they’d listen if he talked to them, they listened. They didn’t always listen the way he wanted, but they paid enough attention to tell him when he was wrong. He was wrong a lot, but of course he was. He was just an apprentice, they knew a lot more. They knew…

Stan did know _some_ things. He knew J and D weren’t just an ornithologist or a lamp builder. He knew they did other things for the organization. Sometimes J would go, and come back smelling of cinders and smoke, with ash still on the bottom of her shoes. Sometimes D would ask Stan questions that seemed a bit too personal, ready for a report. They acted like Stan wouldn’t be able to notice, like he was too dumb and small and insignificant to see these little things.

Stan picked D as his chaperone because he wanted to study birds, messenger birds, and J just happened to be there, too. He was hoping they’d teach him a lot more than just their specialties, though. He was hoping they’d continue his education in every way, continue to teach him how to notice things, how to do better for the world.

D taught him about birds. Sometimes J taught him about codes. And that was all.

He wondered if they even noticed him, when they weren’t doing reports. Or asking him about…

Stan was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if they’d notice if he skipped dinner. He didn’t know if he could eat without throwing up, thinking of Bill- and the others, of course, but mostly Bill, because he lost the most out of all of them, he lost _Georgie_ \- thinking of what he might find out, thinking of…

He heard a knock at his door, and sat up straight, seeing D standing outside. “Yes, sir?” he asked quietly.

D stood there, and then said, “I have some questions for you.”

Stan’s stomach dropped, and then he said, “Sir, I’m… I’m a bit sick right now, maybe later?”

“It’s about your assignment. The reason we sent you to school, you remember?”

Of course. He wasn’t six years old anymore, he could remember things. “Yes, sir. I’m sick.”

D paused. “Well, we’ll take you to one of our Doctors tomorrow. Headquarters is pretty far, but… you’ll want to leave with us.”

“I don’t…” Stan struggled not to looked panicked. “Sir, I don’t want to leave. I… enjoy it here, and we surely can’t be done with-”

He flinched under D’s glare, and his Chaperone said, “Stanley. I will ask you some questions, and then you’ll be leaving with us tomorrow.”

He knew this was out of his hands, but still, he asked, “Why… why are we leaving?”

In response, D said, “What do you know about the Kaspbraks?”

And, suddenly feeling more scared than he’d ever felt in his life, Stan leaned over, grabbed his trash can off the ground, and threw up.


	24. Beverly Marsh gets an Assignment

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

_Beverly Marsh gets an Assignment_

 

Eddie woke up the next morning, and decided not to play sick.

Instead, after breakfast, but before he had to leave for school, he said, “Mom, what sickness do I have?”

She turned from her chair, staring at him. “What was that, Eddie?”

Eddie took a breath, clenching his fists, and said, “What sickness do I have?”

She stared at him darkly. “What is this about, darling?”

“I want to know what sickness I have.” Eddie said. When his Mom still stared at him, Eddie held up one of the bottles full of pills he had to take every day- which, he’d seen, to his dismay, was also labelled _administer when necessary._

“You know what these are?” Eddie asked, before slamming the bottle to the ground, causing his Mother to get ot her feet, looking upset. “They’re gazebos!” Fuck, that wasn’t the right word. What was it again? “They’re _bullshit_!” Yeah, that was it.

He was a bit chilled to see that Sonia was now glaring at him. “They help you, Eddie.”

“How? _How_ do they help me, Mom?”

“I don’t like your tone, Eddie.”

“I don’t like _your_ tone!” Eddie snapped. “I don’t like _any_ of this! How many of these pills am I actually supposed to take? How many of them are _real_?”

“Real? They’re all-”

“Don’t lie! Don’t lie! They’re bullshit! It’s all bullshit!”

“Watch your language, Eddie!”

“This is _fucked_!” Eddie screeched. “It’s all _fucked_!”

“Where did this come from?” Sonia asked. “Did your _friends_ do this to you? You know they’re not your friends, Eddie, they don’t care about you.”

“Oh, how would you know?” Eddie asked. “You clearly don’t give a _shit_ about me if I’m not sick.”

Sonia looked like she might burst. “Eddie, I think you should go to your room. You’re clearly not thinking straight.”

Eddie bit back a _I’ve never done anything straight,_ thinking that _that_ revelation might not help matters. “ _I’m_ not thinking straight? I’m not the one who’s been stuffing me with fake medicine since I was a baby!”

“ _Eddie_!” Sonia screamed. “Go upstairs _now_. I will be fixing this.”

Eddie didn’t know how she planned to “fix it.” Nor did he really care. What he did know was that she clearly had no idea he was able to climb out of windows.

“Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t give a shit anymore.” Eddie said, backing up.

His Mother started to cry, but Eddie didn’t care anymore. She was probably faking that, too, like she’d faked everything else. “Eddie bear, I’m taking care of you.”

Eddie simply gave her a glare and then ran upstairs.

She’d probably go to the pharmacy to get him new medicine so he stopped being angry, or she’d just scream at Mr. Keene for a bit. So he’d probably have about two hours to get his stuff together. He could go to Richie’s. He’d never met his parents, but Richie had offered his house on occasion, in case he ever got sick of his Mom. He’d thought that was a joke before, but now he was really hoping it wasn’t.

 

Bev sat at the keyboard in the basement, a bit bored of cranking out that one tune she heard on the radio, turning to stare around at the bookshelves. Maybe she could sneak out through the tunnels. Hopefully she wouldn’t get lost again. She didn’t want the boys to think she’d abandoned them, she didn’t want them to worry…

She heard the door open, and looked up, surprised. She’d thought A would’ve left by now.

A did come down, and she said, “Alright, Marsh, your babysitter’s here.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Bev said sharply, standing up and hugging her arms. “I want-”

“Aw, Bev, dear, I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

Bev gaped for a second, and then her face brightened, and she found herself beaming, screaming, " _Kay_!”

Kay McCall rushed down the stairs, grinning and throwing her arms around Bev. Kay was only a year and eight months older than her, but she’d been apprenticed long before Bev, meaning she’d graduated just as Bev began. After she finished her hug, she backed up, saying, “Damn, Bev, you’re almost as tall as me, now. Stop growing, you hear me? I’ve always been the taller one.”

“Oh, shut up.” Bev giggled, punching her in the shoulder. “Did you cut your hair?”

“Frames my face better.” Kay said. “Also ditched Sam.”

“Aw, really?”

“It’s alright. Turns out he’s not my type. In any way.”

“Excuse me, K,” A said sharply, “You will have plenty of time for that later. Beverly, I have something to discuss with you.”

Bev paused, glancing over.

“I believe I made a rash decision.” A said. “You shouldn’t spend your day cooped up in here.”

Bev felt a euphoria rise in her chest. “Really?”

“Yes. However, I will ask you to do something for me while you’re out with your… study group.”

Bev glanced between A and Kay, the latter of whom looked about as confused as her. “Yes?”

“I’m going to ask you to keep them busy. Keep them away from Jackson Street.”

The Street sounded a bit familiar to Bev, but she wasn’t sure from where. “If you say so.” she said, happy she was at least let out of the house.

“I’m serious, Marsh. Do not let them go there.”

“I got it, A.” Bev rolled her eyes.

“Alright, I have a job to do. Kay, make sure she doesn’t jump off a cliff or anything.”

“Already done that.” Bev muttered under her breath, as Kay shot a thumbs-up and A raced off.

As soon as A was gone, Kay threw her arm around Bev, saying, “Bev, dear, I have _lots_ to tell you. Let’s go somewhere we can sit down and chat, okay? I’ve got loads to talk about. About VFD, what happened with my apprenticeship, the wild shit I found-”

“I’d like that very much, Kay, but unfortunately I should be running. I might be late to the Quarry.” Bev said. “And if I’m late, my friends will raise all hell.”

Kay hesitated, almost as if there was something she’d desperately wanted to talk about. What on Earth could Kay have to tell her, anyway? “Well, alright.” Kay said. “You’ll be back tonight, though?”

“Of course. We should be done before six, we can have ice cream for dinner like we used to during Fire Drills, and talk about what’s been going on.” Bev sighed. “You won’t _believe_ the shit that’s been going on in this town.”

“Well, you won’t believe what I’ve been up to, but hopefully I can convince you to trust me on this.”

“I always trust you, Kay, dear.” Bev said sweetly. “I can’t believe you’re in charge of me, though.”

“Yeah. Hopefully the place won’t combust by hour two.”

“Just do yourself a favor and don’t try to cook.”

“I’ll just busy myself with my writing, Bev. You go study with your friends.” Kay smiled. “So happy you’ve got friends here.”

“I am, too.” Bev smiled, before running upstairs to grab her bag.

 

Bill pretended to go out to school, and then he sat at the edge of the Quarry, all of his notes and evidence in a bag. His parents had come back last night, and hadn’t said much to him, but he’d put the box of slides back in the basement, just in case, after spending all afternoon drawing what was on each of them on flashcards.

Richie arrived first, looking incredibly nervous. “Did you t-talk to your parents?” Bill asked.

“What?” Richie asked, looking up as he threw his bike to the grass. “What, I- oh! Oh, uh, no. No, they’ve been busy, and I wouldn’t… know what to say, you know?”

Bill watched him carefully as Ben biked up, also throwing his bike aside and dumping books on the ground next to them. “I got all the Snicket stuff I could find.” he said. “Had to steal some of it because the ‘five-at-a-time’ rule at the Library is bullshit, but-”

“Whoa, Haystack!” Richie said, feigning shock. “Are you using _bad words?_ Now, who the fuck coulda taught you that?”

“Beep beep, Richie.” Ben sighed.

Mike arrived about five minutes later, looking very distracted. He said his greetings, and then stared at his hands for a bit, then at the sky.

“The others are late.” Ben said.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Mike asked, looking around at them.

“I’m s-s-sure-” Bill began.

“ _Hey, assholes_!” They turned, relieved, as Bev biked up, before tossing her bike on the pile and saying, “Sorry I’m late, Mom was grilling me about where I was going and what I was doing and all that jazz. Where’s everyone else?”

“We’re not s-sure.” Bill said. “We can w-wait a bit longer, then t-try to find them.”

They nodded, and then Bev started chatting with Mike, Ben and Richie about what had happened in school while she was gone. Bill didn’t say anything, just waiting.

After a long time, he said, “Let’s go f-find them. St-Stan’s closer. Let’s go this house.”

“Where’s that?” Bev asked carefully.

“It’s r-really close to his sy-synagogue.”

Bev thought, mapping the town in her head, then she said, “Yeah. Then we can get Eddie, that’s not too far from there, and we’ll all-” she paused, suddenly realizing something, her eyes widening.

“What?” Ben asked.

Bev hesitated, then shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s go get Stan.”


	25. The Losers break into Stan's House

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

_The Losers break into Stan’s House_

 

“Stan! _Stan_!”

Their bikes hidden behind a bush, the kids all stood outside Stan’s house, with Bev throwing rocks at Stan’s window and waiting for a response. After a second, she picked it up and tossed again.

“You’re gonna break that eventually.” Mike said.

“I won’t.” Bev said. “And if I do, it’ll get his attention, won’t it?”

“He should be h-home.” Bill said. “Even if he we-went to school by accident, he’d notice we were gone and l-leave. Maybe we should ask his p-parents.”

At that point, Richie and Ben came around from the front door. “They’re not home.” Richie said.

“Wh-what?” Richie asked.

“I rang the doorbell, like, eight hundred times.” Richie said. “Nobody. So we’re going to have to postpone my dream of being a distraction until some other time.”

“Maybe they took him out somewhere.” Mike said.

Bill glanced at Bev, both of them thinking similar things. Then Bill raced to the window and managed to pull it open.

“What the _fuck_?” Richie said.

“Climb in.” Bill said. “We’re finding out where Stan is.”

Bev hesitated a second as the others raced forwards. She glanced down the street, half of her screaming, _Tell them, tell them!_ and the other half screaming _Shut up!_

“Bev?”

Bev took a deep breath. _Remember where your loyalties lie, Marsh._

“Coming.”

 

“Bev, you’re with m-me.” Bill said. “We’re going up-upstairs. Richie, get the b-b-basement. Mike, B-Ben, this fl-floor. We’ll f-figure out wh-what’s going on.”

They nodded, and Bev and Bill went upstairs, glancing briefly at the photos of birds on the walls. Quietly, Bill said, “We-well, I see where St-Stan got his in-interest.”

“Hmm.” Bev said, looking distracted.

They went in Stan’s room first- or, at least, what they assumed was Stan’s room. It had a small bed, some schoolbooks above a desk, and a few of his figurines that Bill had gotten him for the last holiday on top of a side table.

The first thing they noticed, after how drab and boring the room looked for a child’s bedroom, was that his drawers were open.

“St-Stan would’ve cl-closed these.” Bill said carefully, moving to the drawers. “He h-hates messes…” he paused, before finally saying, “There are cl-clothes messed up, too. Did he… did he grab some? Did he _leave_?”

“No.” Bev said, still sounding distant. “No, I’m sure there’s an explanation. Maybe his parents were digging through his stuff.”

Bill hesitated, and then said. “Well, he’s n-not here. Let’s try s-somewhere else.”

They went to what looked like another bedroom, with nothing looking out of the ordinary. Then there was another- did Stan’s parents sleep in separate rooms?

It was when they went into the bathroom that everything went to shit.

At first, it looked normal. Bev was absently flipping through shelves, occasionally glancing towards Bill, who started going through drawers. He wasn’t even sure why, but maybe…

As he moved a small box, he felt a notch in the floor of the droor. He paused, shut his eyes, then whispered, “No way.”

“Bill?” Bev looked worried. “What is it?”

Slowly, Bill lifted the drawer; false bottom. Of course. Of fucking course it was a false bottom.

Inside was a small envelope. Bill took it and opened it, feeling what seemed like several small papers inside it. He dumped it onto the sink counter, and then paled instantly.

Photos. That was what was in the envelope. A bunch of photos, of kids, kids Bill recognized from around town.

“What the fuck?” Bev muttered, after a moment.

Bill flipped through the photos. “Why… why would…”

He then completely froze over, paralyzed with horror.

Georgie.

There was a photo, of Bill and Georgie walking down a street, a balloon in Georgie’s hand. They were laughing, chatting.

“What the _fuck_?” Bev said again.

Bill stared at it, before picking up the picture and continuing to look, still feeling horrified.

Then, something clicked in his head, and his stomach sank like a rock.

“Bill?” Bev asked carefully, seeing his pained expression.

Bill turned to look at her, heartbreak in his eyes, before he said, “Stan took this picture.”

“What?”

“We were g-g-going to the f-fair. And St-Stan took some p-pictures for M-Mom’s scrapbook. I didn’t… he shouldn’t h-have this, his _parents_ …”

“Bill-”

“I bet it’s not his parents.”

“What?”

Bill shut his eyes, having figured it out. Why Stan was so nervous about this. Why he didn’t believe any of it, even when they had the Snicket book. Why Bill had never met his parents, why Stan knew so many book facts, was so nervous around fire.

“I th-think Stan’s a Volunteer. I th-think he t-told them ab-about Georgie. That’s wh-why they have this.”

Bev stared at him, looking horrified, as he continued. “He… he knew the wh-whole time. He _knew_ ! He _knew_ and he didn’t do _shit_!”

“Bill-”

“We need to get Eddie.” Bill said sharply, shoving the photos into the envelope again. “We need to g-g-get Eddie, g-get out, we need to-”

He turned to go, and Bev screamed, “ _No!_ ” and grabbing his arm.

“What?” Bill turned around, shocked.

“No, you can’t go!”

“Why not?”

Bev stared, struggling to come up with some excuse. Slowly, Bill turned towards her, staring in fear. “Bev? Why can’t we go to Eddie’s?”

“Not… he’ll find us. He’ll find us, I’m sure…”

“Bev… what’s wrong?”

Bev stared at him, and then said, “Bill… it’s time to Volunteer.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Bill forced a smile, hoping to God she was joking, hoping to _God_ he misheard that…

She just stared at him, and his smile dropped.

“Holy shit.” He turned to go again, and Bev grabbed his arm and dragged him back. Unfortunately, she was much stronger than him. “Let me _go_! Let me _go_!”

“I’m sorry, Bill, but I can’t let you fuck this up!”

“What did you _do_?” Bill asked, whipping towards her. “What did you _do_ to Eddie?”

“We can’t go, Bill. He lives on Jackson Street. We can’t-”

“ _What did you do to Eddie?_ ”

Suddenly, the bathroom door flew open, and Mike and Ben stood outside the door, looking panicked.

“We have to go!” Mike yelled.

“No!” Bev said, while Bill yelled, “What?”

“There’s, uh…” Ben began.

Then, Bev realized something Bill hadn’t. “Where’s Richie?”

 

Richie really hated this basement.

It was too dark, too cold, too cramped. There were too many shelves, too, shelves full of books and boxes and birdcages. Richie really wished the lights were better down here.

“Stan?” Richie called, hoping he was hiding behind a shelf. “Stan, come on, this isn’t funny. Stan? Sta- _shit_!”

Richie tripped over some container, and liquid spilled onto the ground. Richie jumped over it, then ducked down, scanning it to see what it was supposed to be. Was that oil? Gasoline? Well, it probably didn’t matter.

He walked to the far side of the room, scanning the books. It was mostly classics, old boring shit that Richie would tear his hair out before reading. He stopped beside it, seeing what looked like a schooldesk. “Stan? This your study room? The dark, cold prison of a basement?” Richie called. No response. “Well, I’m opening your desk. Gonna find all the adult magazines you swiped from your Dad.”

He opened the drawer, and then froze.

A book. A very distinctive book.

Slowly, Richie reached in, pulling out _The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations_ , with the VFD eye clearly etched into its cover.

“Holy fuck.” Richie said.

He stared at the book for a second, realizing that Bill would like to see this. The others would. In fact… the others were probably finding things, too. Incriminating things. VFD things.

Stan was in VFD.

This was a VFD house.

Richie stared down at the book. And then he dropped it to the ground, on top of the puddle. He stepped over it, closer to the stairs, staring at it.

_Bill will want to see that._

_Bill can’t see that._

_I can’t let anyone see that._

“Sorry, Bill.” Richie said to nothing, and then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a match.

He lit the book, and then ran.

The basement was in flames faster than he could have thought possible- whatever that liquid was, it was flammable- and he could see the fire following him as he rushed up the stairs.

“Ben! Mike! Fire! There’s a fire! A _fucking_ fire!” he yelled.

As if he’d never seen a fire before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, writing this: you know what this fic needs? ANOTHER FALSE BOTTOM DRAWER
> 
> also, Bill really picks the worst people to take down vfd lol


	26. Eddie Kaspbrak takes a Fall

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

_Eddie Kaspbrak takes a Fall_

 

“What do you mean, _he’s watching the_ _fire_?” Bev asked, panicked.

“Something set on fire in the basement, and Richie’s waiting for us downstairs.” Mike said, sounding just as fearful.

“We have to get out, before-” Ben began.

They suddenly heard Richie scream from the hallway, and at that sound, Bev released Bill’s arm, and all four of them rushed out, sliding down the hall to see Richie had made it halfway up the staircase, staring down at a fire that spread across the floor.

“It shouldn’t have spread that fast.” Bev said distantly. “There’s no way-”

Mike grabbed onto her arm and stared at the flames as Richie rushed up, saying, “I don’t know what happened, I…”

“We h-have to g-get out.” Bill said.

“Bill, do you think-” Ben began.

“The window.” Mike said quickly, his eyes hardening as he released Bev’s arm and started pushing them towards Stan’s room. “The window, we can climb out that way.”

They ran as fast as they could, with Mike pushing from behind, occasionally glancing around to see how fast the flames were gaining on them, really wishing he didn’t hear the creaking and groaning of the house beneath them all, threatening to give way.

Bev threw Stan’s window open, and they pushed Ben out first, and he climbed down as best he could, falling only a few feet from the ground; he was alright, and he rolled aside as Richie pushed Bill next. As soon as Bill was out, Richie moved.

Bev paused, glancing at Mike, as they felt the heat grow worse. “You go next.” she said.

“You go. I’ll be fine.”

“Damn it, Mike, we are _not_ having this conversation.” she paused, and then, her voice breaking slightly, she said, “Bill found out.”

Mike stared at her, horrified. “What?”

“About us. Well, about me. He doesn’t know you…”

Mike took a deep breath, and then held out his hand for Bev. “We’re going out together, and we’ll talk some sense into him, yeah?”

Bev glanced at him, then nodded.

They could climb down with one hand, sure. They’d been trained for everything.

 

“I don’t think Stan…” Richie said, soon as he landed. “Well, he’s out of the house. He’s gonna kill us, though. For burning his house.”

“We didn’t burn it!” Ben looked panicked.

Richie paused, and then said, “Shit, you’re right. But we should go, or we’ll get blamed for it. Bill, we need to- Bill?”

Bill was standing still, staring up at Bev and Mike as they climbed down, looking oddly blank.

“Bill, are you okay?” Ben asked.

Mike and Bev landed on the grass, and Bill instantly walked forwards and stopped in front of them, staring.

Bev glanced to the side, before stepping forwards and saying, “Bill-”

The second she stepped forwards, a flash of fear showed in Bill’s eyes, and before he could even think, he threw out his fist and slugged Bev across the face, knocking her to the ground.

“Holy fuck!” Richie yelled, as Ben and Mike immediately rushed forwards to hold Bill back, not noticing that he looked just as shocked as them. Richie knelt down to help Bev up, but froze in surprise when she only got on her knees and started to sob.

“Bev-” Bill began.

“I’m _sorry_!” Bev almost screamed. “I’m _sorry, I’m sorry, I-_ ”

“What’s going on?” Richie asked, kneeling down to get eye-level with her. “Bev, what’s wrong?”

“What _is_ this?” Ben asked, as Bill also looked about ready to cry. “What the hell is-”

“She’s _with them_.” Bill said, sounding both scared and sad. “She and Stan! They’re with VFD!”

Everyone froze up, except for Bev, who continued to cry.

“They’re what?” Richie finally said blankly.

“Bev?” Ben’s eyes widened in shock.

Then, slowly, Mike said, “It’s not just her and Stan.”

Richie stiffened, turning to him. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

Mike slowly released Bill, and then knelt down and put his arm around Bev. “I’m there, too. We’re both apprentices, we-”

“You’re with _them_?” Ben asked, stepping back, looking like he desperately wanted them to tell them they were joking.

“You…” Richie didn’t move, looking paralyzed. “You’re… holy _shit_ , you…”

Bill rushed forwards, also kneeling down and staring at Bev until she met his eyes; Mike glared at him and held her a little tighter, in case he said something shitty or tried to punch her again.

“What did you do to Eddie?” he asked.

Richie immediately leapt up, panic in his eyes. “What? Eddie- what happened to Eddie? What do you-”

“I’m _sorry_.” Bev said again.

Mike looked a bit confused for a second, and then it dawned on him. He looked down sympathetically, and said, “Bev, did you recommend him?”

Bev nodded as she continued to sob, starting to shake.

“What does that _mean_?” Richie asked, as Ben sat down, too, looking numb. “What’s happening to Eddie?”

 

Eddie was packing up when he heard the noise outside his window.

He paused, glancing up. He’d made a quick list of everything he needed- a little over a week’s worth of clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste and hairbrush, and extras of those, and a few other personal items. He was shoving them all into a suitcase, hoping he could carry that and his schoolbag out of his window, when he heard something in his tree.

He didn’t freeze up at first; he just shoved more stuff into his bag, glancing at his window, wondering if a cat got into it, or if Richie had decided to pick him up- shit, was he late for the Quarry?

He eventually moved to the window, peering out. Shit, what if there was a wasp nest in the tree? He didn’t wanna have to sneak out with bees out there. What if he got stung? _Shit, stop thinking like that Eddie, it’ll be fine. You won’t die. You’re not even sick. You’re not even fucking sick._

Wait…

Eddie stared down at the street, realizing a car had been parked outside his house. A long, black car.

_Chill out, Eddie. It’s probably just a neighbor. Or a visitor. Maybe Mom got a new doctor for me._

Still, feeling very uneasy, Eddie shut his suitcase and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He should get going. Hell, maybe he shouldn’t go out the window. Yeah, it’d be more risky to go out the front and have neighbors see him, but… he really didn’t like the look of that car.

He opened the door, and thought he heard something behind him.

Was that… was that his window opening?

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK…_

Eddie took off running, not daring to look behind him, his heart already pounding in his chest. He didn’t know if he heard footsteps behind him or if that was his mind playing tricks on him, and he didn’t dare to try and find out, or he might just have a heart attack. He struggled to breathe, his chest feeling like it was about to explode, wishing he had his aspirator- _no, stop it, Eddie, you’re not sick! You don’t need it!_ But it _felt_ like he needed it… he couldn’t _breathe_ …

He tripped, or perhaps he was pushed; he wasn’t sure, he wasn’t really certain he was present at the moment, he wasn’t sure he knew what was going on, what was _happening_ to him.

But he knew when he hit the bottom of the stairs, and when he crashed onto the landing, and when he rolled on the floor, and when his arm felt like it had collapsed in on itself, a sickening _crack_ sounding when he landed on it.

Eddie felt tears spring to the edges of his eyes, and he let out a small scream- very small, almost a gasp. He was still struggling to breathe, desperately trying to figure out what was happening. Was his head actually ringing? Did his arm actually hurt? Or was that all fake, too?

He thought someone was in front of him, but his vision was blurry. Someone might have been in front of him, but it wasn’t someone he knew; it was too tall to be his friends, too skinny to be his Mom…

His eyes fell on an exposed ankle in front of him, someone’s ankle… someone was there…

On the ankle was a tattoo. A tattoo of the Eye.

Eddie suddenly felt himself overcome with fear, but all he managed to do was whisper, “Mother _fucker_ …” before someone shoved something over his mouth.

 

Stan was curled up in the backseat, crying into a pillow so his chaperones didn’t notice.

He hated this. He hated all of this. He hated that he’d been made to go to a normal school in case his Chaperones needed information on the kids in town, he hated having to hand over information on possible recruits, he hated that it was entirely possible VFD was interested in the Denbroughs’ kids because he gave them such high praise whenever his Chaperones would listen, he hated that he took Georgie’s picture for them, and he hated that they were taking Eddie away.

His chaperone had asked him about Eddie the night before. Made it clear he was their next target, and that they were leaving to take him to Headquarters, make sure he didn’t run; apparently some other recruit (or recruits?) had managed to escape, and they wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. And they were dragging Stan along with them.

They were parked a few houses down from Eddie’s, now, waiting for him to get dragged into the long, black car. J and D were amiably chatting in the front seats, not paying much attention to him; they probably expected him to sit nicely in the backseat until they got to Headquarters. He hadn’t given them any reason to believe otherwise; he’d always nervously done what he was told, always stayed quiet. Plus, they thought he was sick, so he’d just be quiet and maybe sleep a bit, and they wouldn’t have to deal with him.

But he didn’t want to be quiet anymore.

“Oh, looks like we’re ready to go.” D said, and Stan peered out the window, clutching the pillow to him.

Two Volunteers he vaguely recognized from around town were rushing towards the black car, and Stan wanted to puke again when he saw that one of them was carrying the unmoving body of Eddie Kaspbrak.

 _Must’ve knocked him out, they knew he’d be loud._ Stan thought. _He’d draw attention. Just because the Police aren’t doing anything about the recruitments doesn’t mean some neighbor couldn’t cause trouble._

It was a shame. He’d really been hoping that he might be able to get Eddie to run, too.

_Just stay in the car. Just get to Headquarters, maybe you and Eddie can escape._

_But what will the others think?_

Stan knew where they were headed, anyway. And even if they moved Eddie… there had to be files. The Volunteers didn’t like not knowing where their apprentices were. He could get them in and out. If he could convince Mike and Bev…

_This is stupid. Stay in the car. Keep your head down. Stay quiet._

_No. Don’t. The others wouldn’t…_

_Where can you go?_

_We’ll find somewhere. We’ll find something._

The car started to drive, following the black one, as J and D kept talking. Stan didn’t know how they could act like they were just on a fun family roadtrip, how they could be so chill when this was happening in front of them.

Slowly, he unbuckled his seatbelt. His chaperones didn’t notice, distracted by a turn in the road.

_Sorry, Eddie. I’ll find you. I swear. I swear I’ll find you, but I need to convince the others to follow me._

He grabbed his bag off the ground, and nobody noticed when he slung it over his shoulder.

_Okay, Stan. Be brave. Be loud._

He shut his eyes, then threw open the car door and jumped.

J and D both yelled as he rolled, tumbling down the road. His left leg and left arm both stung as soon as he hit the pavement, but he couldn’t think about that much. He jumped up the second he could, seeing the neighborhood around him, and he took off running in the opposite direction of his chaperones’ car.

He didn’t stay on the road for long; the second he passed a bend, he ducked inbetween two houses and threw himself into a bush, and he sat there for a moment, catching his breath and struggling to hide himself among the leaves.

He’d have to keep moving, he knew. He couldn’t just sit in one place, they’d find him. They’d look in the bushes, of course they would.

But, for just the moment, Stan let it sink in. What he’d done. What he was planning to do.

And he curled up and cried some more.


	27. Stan Uris takes a Leave of Absence

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

_Stan Uris takes a Leave of Absence_

 

They’d had to move away from the fire eventually.

“We’re going to Eddie’s house.” Bill said simply, after they grabbed their bikes, Bev still grabbing onto Mike and crying. “And I d-d-don’t care wh-what you say.”

“It’s probably done already.” Mike said dimly.

“What’s done? What did you _do_?” Richie asked.

“Did they take him?” Ben asked, piecing it together first. “Did they kidnap Eddie?”

Bev and Mike flinched. “Uh, ‘recruited’ is the right term.” Mike said.

“No, ‘kidnapped’ is the right term.” Ben stated.

Bev wiped her eyes on her sleeve, before saying, “They’ll have gotten him by now, probably. He’ll be heading to his first chaperone.”

“Where is that?” Bill asked.

Bev shook her head, biting her lip.

Bill glanced between them, narrowing his eyes. Then, he said, “We’re go-going to his house. You can c-come if y-you want.”

Bev and Mike both looked shattered, but after a second, Mike said, “I’ll go with you guys.”

Bev nodded slowly, and they biked away.

 

Like Bev and Mike said, the house was empty.

Richie climbed down from the window, shaking his head and looking terrified. “There was… I found this at the bottom of the stairs.” he said, holding up a suitcase. “His bookbag was with it. I think he was trying to run away, it’s got his stuff in it… maybe he found out what they were trying to do?”

“Oh my God…” Ben muttered, covering his mouth.

Bev and Mike both stared at the suitcase, looking like they were struggling to keep their expressions blank. “It’s not that bad.” Bev said carefully. “I got over the initial shock quite quickly, and-”

“Bev,” Bill said, walking over slowly and placing his hands on her shoulders, staring her in the eyes. “You are in a cult.”

“Shut up!” Bev jerked away, staring at the ground. “Shut up, it’s not-”

“They just _k-k-kidnapped Eddie_!” Bill almost yelled. “They kidnapped Eddie and I c-c-can f-fucking guarantee he did _not_ w-want to be a p-part of this. They _took Georgie_!”

“They didn’t mean any harm!” Bev snapped. “We’re just trying to help-”

“By _kidnapping kids?_ ” Bill glared at her. “Were you kidnapped too?”

“ _Yes_ , and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” she said.

Bill whirled on Mike. “A-and you?”

Mike hesitated, “Well, um, I… uh, kinda, it… um…”

Richie, unusually quiet, sunk to the ground, hugging Eddie’s suitcase. Ben glanced between everyone, and then said, “So, why were you helping us?”

“We… were trying to protect you…” Bev began.

“You’ve been sabotaging us.” Bill stated, looking furious. “Y-y-you’ve been trying to th-throw us off, haven’t you? I bet you were r-r-real pissed when we f-found the VFD shit in my Dad’s stuff.”

“Bill, stop it.” Bev said quietly, still staring at the ground.

“We were trying to help without exposing our secrets.” Mike said carefully. “We can’t-”

“ _You are in a cult_!” Bill screamed. “You are in a _f-f-fucking cult_ and you let them _take Eddie away_! And _Stan_ let them take _Georgie_! Why would you _do this_?”

“It’s our _job_!” Bev yelled back. “It’s our goddamn job, Bill!”

“Your job is _kidnapping kids,_ and y-you don’t see a problem with that?”

“We’re recruiting them, we ask the parents-”

“Really? You think _Sonia Kaspbrak_ let them drag Eddie out of her house-”

“Guys,” Ben said, stepping between them and holding out his hands, “I think we need to take a second to quiet. You get any louder, okay, and the neighborhood knows everything-”

“ _Let them_!” Bill yelled. “Eddie is _gone_ , just _like Georgie_ , and-”

“Shut _up_!” Bev yelled, throwing her hands over her ears. “They saved me! They saved everyone, they-”

“ _Everyone shut up!_ ” Richie suddenly screeched, and everyone turned to him, shocked slightly. He was standing, with Eddie’s suitcase in one hand, and he used his other hand to gesture to the bushes behind the house, which were rustling.

Everyone stared as Stan burst from the bushes, his face scratched and clothes slightly torn, and covered in dirt. He looked up, saw the Losers, and burst into tears.

“I’m _sorry_.” was the first thing he said.

“Stan?” Bill asked, as Bev and Mike ran over to help him up. He leaned on Mike as he continued to cry.

“What’s going on?” Ben asked, stepping forwards.

“They took Eddie…” Stan started. “They took Eddie, I tried to- I couldn’t do _anything_ , I-”

“Where’s Eddie?” Bill stepped forwards, narrowing his eyes. “Where-”

“Bill!” Bev yelled, stepping in front of Stan. “He’s upset, give him a-”

“ _Where’s Eddie_?”

“They took him to Headquarters, it’s… I’m with them- _was_ with them, I think I just… I jumped out of the car, I don’t-”

“You did _what_?” Mike looked worried.

Stan’s eyes suddenly widened. “Shit, I shouldn’t stay in the open… if my Chaperones went back for me, they might… we need to hide. We need to hide somewhere, _please_ …”

Bill froze up, then looked between all of them. “Nowhere is safe.” he whispered. “We’re all part of it. We… nowhere is…”

“My house.” Bev said suddenly.

“ _Fuck_ no!” Richie and Bill both said.

Bev flinched, blinking back tears, but she said, “My chaperone left with Eddie, too. I have a babysitter, but she’ll leave us alone.”

“Bev…” Ben began. “Are you sure?”

Bill looked her in the eyes, and said, “Can we trust you?”

Bev stared at him, still crying, and said, “I guess not. But I’m not lying on this. We can talk there, and I swear I’ll- _we’ll_ explain everything. Just come with us.”

Bill, Ben and Richie all looked to each other. Then, Ben and Richie nodded, and Bill said, “If this is s-some trap…”

“It’s not.” Bev promised. “Now, hurry. Before they see him.”

 

“I thought she’d be here.” Bev said, as she opened the front door and ushered everyone in, looking worriedly towards the kitchen. “Wonder where she ran off to.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Bill said, sitting on the staircase and staring at her. “Mind expl-explaining why you let them t-take Eddie?”

Stan sunk to the floor, burying his head in his lap, while Mike sat next to him to be a small comfort. Richie and Ben both leaned against the stairwell, and they all turned to look at Bev.

“Well, I…” Bev shuffled her feet, “I didn’t just… I mean, I talked about him, sure, so they… but he probably would’ve gotten recruited anyway, if his Dad was a Volunteer. Most Volunteer children get into VFD.”

“Except Bill, apparently.” Richie muttered.

“And me.” Ben said quietly. “Are my parents…”

“We don’t know.” Mike admitted, not looking anyone in the eye. “We never really know who’s in and who’s not, unless they have a tattoo, and even then they-”

“Tattoo?” Bill asked, confused, while Ben just looked shocked.

Slowly, Bev kicked her shoe off and pulled back her sock, showing everyone a dark tattoo of the Eye on her ankle.

“We all get these, keep track of who knows our secrets.” Bev said numbly.

“Do you two…” Ben turned towards Stan and Mike, who nodded. “Holy shit…”

“It’s not that bad. We were under anaesthesia while we got the tattoo, and-” Mike began.

“Do you hear yourself when you’re talking?” Ben interrupted. “They put you under _anaesthesia_ in order to _brand you_ and you don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“I wouldn’t call it _branding_ …” Mike began.

“What would you call it?”

Mike paused, thinking. “Uh…”

“Branding sounds good.” Stan said numbly, glancing up. “That’s basically what happened.”

Bev gave Stan an odd glance, while Richie said, “Yeah, Stan, what happened to you?”

Stan shut his eyes, glancing away, and then said, “I jumped out the car. I… I couldn’t stay with them, you guys… you’re gonna hate me, you’re all gonna hate me, I-” he took a breath. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault… I…”

“What’s your fault? Stan?” Ben moved closer, sitting on the other side of Stan and watching him carefully.

“Georgie, I… they wanted the pictures, they… wanted me to talk about you two, I… I’m _sorry_ , it’s my fucking fault… and _Eddie_ , they wanted to know where he’d be tomorrow and I… I _fucking_ told them, I told them he’d be home, I… I didn’t know what else to do, and I wanna throw up and curl up in a hole somewhere, and… and they’re taking him to Headquarters, and… and… _oh, fuck, I jumped out of the fucking car…_ ”

“What happened? Why did you jump out of the car?” Bev asked. “Did something go wrong?”

“I couldn’t take it, I _couldn’t take it anymore_.” Stan cried. “I _ran._ I ran, and… I can’t go back, Bev, Mike, don’t let them take me back…”

Bev stared at him, looking terrified, while Mike immediately hugged him, though he also looked a bit worried.

Bill moved forwards, kneeling in front of Stan until he managed to look around. “St-Stan, you kn-know where their Headquarters are?”

“No!” Bev said, just as Stan nodded.

“Ca-can you t-take us there? B-before they move Eddie?”

“Stan, you can’t do that.” Bev said, as if Bill had just asked him to teach them to fly. “That’s not…”

“They’ll move him by tomorrow, if not tonight.” Stan said quickly, and Bev dropped her mouth open in shock. “If you want to… shit, no, this is dumb, you can’t _break in_ , they’ll catch you, they’ll find you, you’ll never…”

“We can’t just _leave_ Eddie!” Ben said.

“Someone else can-” Stan began.

“No one else is going to do anything.” Richie said. “We need to get Eddie and Georgie out ourselves.”

“Get _out_?” Bev looked panicked. “You don’t just _leave_ , we’re part of this! Stan, you agreed to be a Volunteer-”

“I was _six_!” Stan yelled, suddenly furious. “I was _six years old_! I couldn’t agree to _anything_!”

Mike flinched back, staring at him, shocked into silence. Bev stepped forwards slightly, saying, “Stan, your parents-”

“I _don’t care_! I don’t _care_ what my parents wanted, I can’t even _remember them_! Why do I care what they wanted?” Stan jumped up, glaring at her. “They clearly didn’t care what I wanted, they sold me off to Volunteers when I was _six_ and never thought to _talk to me again_! None of my Chaperones care about me, I _hate_ all these secrets and lies, and I singlehandedly ruined the lives of Bill and his brother because I couldn’t keep my _fucking_ mouth shut, and now… and now Eddie’s _gone_ and… and I can’t… and I can’t do _anything right_ … and I _hate all of it_!”

Stan started sobbing again, and backed up against the wall, covering his eyes and shaking. “I hate it…” he muttered again, and then it was Ben’s turn to hug him.

Bill turned to Bev, then, and said, “Bev, we h-have to get Eddie out. It’s a cult. You can’t-”

“They’re not, they can’t be…” Bev shook her head. “They took me away from my Dad, they _saved_ me, they wouldn’t do that if they were…”

“They wanted you and th-they took you.” Bill said, his voice getting louder. “They’re pl-playing you, Bev, just to g-get your loyalty! They don’t actually _care_!”

“You’re lying!” Bev yelled, tears springing to her eyes. “I owe them _everything_! Mike, please, _tell him he’s wrong_!”

Mike froze up, glancing between Stan and Bev. “I… I… Bill, they… uh…” he took a breath. “Look, they… they’re doing it for the greater good.”

“How good can it be if they can only achieve it by kidnapping and brainwashing children?” Ben asked.

“We’re not _brainwashed_!” Bev yelled. “We’re Volunteers, we’re _helping_ the world, we’re… we’re…” She shut her eyes, clenching her fists. “We’re here to keep the world quiet. We’re not… _evil_.”

“They might not be evil,” Richie said, stunning everyone by how serious he sounded, “But they might not be good. Bad people can do good things. Good people can…” he shut his eyes. “Can do _horrible_ things. It all… depends on how many people you hurt. On whether or not you actually made things better.”

They stared at him for a second, a little shocked, before Ben turned to Bev and said, “How many people has VFD actually helped?”

“They helped me.” Bev said weakly. “They… they…”

Before anyone could say anything else, the door swung open sharply, banging against the wall, and they whipped around, terrified, to see a girl maybe a bit older than them, yelling into a handheld radio.

“For the last _fucking_ time, I haven’t found your _goddamn acolyte_ , I will _call you_ if I see him, but if you yell at me again, I will take your radio and _shove it up your_ -”

The girl froze, staring ahead at the seven kids spread out in front of her, and the children all instantly realized how they looked- Stan, still crying and dirty, was being half-hugged by Ben, Mike was standing by him, halfway towards comforting him, while Bev was close to tears, Bill looked pissed off, and Richie was still clutching Eddie’s suitcase.

The girl stared at them for a moment, and then held up the radio, saying, “Sorry, uh, Bev got stuck in one of her dresses. Real dumbass move. Call you back if I see your kid.”

Slowly, she kicked the door closed, looked around again, and said, “Alright, which one of you is Uris?”

Still crying, though a lot more silently, Stan hesitantly raised a hand. Almost as soon as he did, Ben, Bill, Richie and even Mike all stepped in front of him, as if to block him. Bev wiped her eyes quickly, saying in a shaky voice, “Kay, where did you-”

“Was out trying to find that kid.” Bev said, gesturing towards Stan, not even reacting to the boys surrounding him. “Apparently in your… study group?”

“You’re not taking him back.” Bill said. “He d-doesn’t want to g-go back.”

Kay looked over his shoulder towards Stan, and said, “This true?”

Stan hesitantly nodded.

“How many of you are Volunteers?” Kay asked, sounding remarkably calm.

After a second, Mike said, “I… I am. Bill and Richie come from families, Ben…”

“Hanscom?” Kay asked, and when Ben nodded, she said, “Yeah, you, too.” she glanced to Bev, and then said, “And I’m guessing you’re all coming together cause of the kid who just got recruited?”

“Eddie?” Bill asked, eyes wide.

“Kay, what-” Bev started.

“And how many of you are trying to leave?”

There was a long, pause, before Bill said, “What el-else can we d-do?”  

“You can-” Bev began.

To everyone’s surprise, Kay said, “You can sit in the living room while I make a call, and then I can take you to Headquarters to break your friend out.”

Everyone stared at her, varying levels of shock on their faces, before Bill said, “Wh-what?”

“Just sit down, while Bev, you grab whatever you’ll need,” Kay said, “And I’ll tell E what’s going on. And then we’re getting your friend the hell out of here.”


	28. Beverly Marsh has an Existential Crisis

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

_Beverly Marsh has an Existential Crisis_

 

“ _What_?” Bev paled, still staring in shock at her friend.

“Sorry, who are you again?” Ben asked quietly, stepping slightly away from Stan now that he knew this girl wasn’t a threat.

“Kay McCall, Bev’s babysitter for the weekend. Looks like I’m gonna fail my assignment, then, but it doesn’t matter.” she said. “If you really want to get out, I can get you to a friend; God, this is honestly the best thing that could’ve happened, I was really hoping that they’d let me volunteer as a babysitter Chaperone and I could get you the hell away from here, Bev, but now there’s seven of you we’ll be able to-”

“Sorry, sorry, back up?” Bev said, sounding bewildered. “You’re… you’re doing what?”

Kay glanced at her, muttered a “Shit,” and then said, “Okay, so, we need to sit down somewhere. Living Room, now- Uris, try not to pass by any windows before I can cover them up.”

“My name’s Stan.” Stan said quietly.

“Nice to know.” Kay said. “You all hurry it up, we can’t have you standing in the lobby. I’ll lock the doors, be right there. Don’t go anywhere; Bev, don’t freak out.”

“Wh-what?” Bev asked, as Ben grabbed her hand and dragged her off with the rest of them towards the living room.

 

“Mike, are you buying into this?” Bev asked, and Mike looked up from the couch, where he was piling blankets onto Stan, who still looked vaguely traumatized. Bill and Ben sat next to him, while Richie was on the ground, leaning against the arm and hugging his knees.

“Um…” Mike began. “I don’t… I don’t think the Volunteers are bad, but if Stan doesn’t want to stay, we shouldn’t make him.”

“It’s a _cult_.” Bill said again, glaring at them.

Kay walked in, and said quickly, “Don’t just say that, Bill. Puts them on the defensive, you’ve gotta be nice about it.” She turned to Bev and Mike and said, “For example, VFD’s restricting your free will and forcing you into their belief system.”

“Is that… not the exact definition of a cult?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, but I said it nicely.” Kay said.

“That wasn’t-” Bev began.

“Bev, sweetie, I’m gonna need you to listen to me for a moment.” Kay said. “Okay? Okay. Anyone here actually like VFD, aside from those two?”

“We only just found out it existed,” Ben said, “But the whole ‘kidnapping kids’ thing is pretty scary.”

“They t-took Georgie.” Bill added.

“Ooh, that’s the tip of the fuckin iceberg.” Kay said. “Wait til you hear what they did to Anwhistle- but we’re not talking about him now. All your parents are in VFD, right?”

They all hesitantly nodded, and Richie curled up some more.

“Then you’re not safe here. Even if VFD doesn’t want you, they might grab you anyway if they run short on apprentices, or you might get attacked by Firestarters, or you could have kids taken by them in the future. You’re not safe unless you run.”

Bev looked like her world had just turned upside-down. “What are you- Kay, you’re _for_ this?”

“I was hoping to talk to you about it over ice cream, but we might not have time, it depends on how fast Kaspbrak wakes up.” Kay said. “Anyway, while I was gone? Figured out I was in some deep shit. Found some books on cults in the Library and VFD pretty easily fills out every checklist. I got in contact with some people who can hide you, but you’re going to have to know exactly what you’re getting into. You’re going to be constantly hiding, you can’t talk to anyone from here again- no family, no friends, nothing.”

The kids all stared at her, and finally Richie said, “Fuck, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.” Kay said. “I’d have taken the chance, but I want to get some more people out before I get found out. Does anyone want to back out?”

The kids all looked at each other, everything slowly sinking in at once. Then, Ben looked towards Kay, and said, “I think… I think I’ve kinda known this was gonna happen for a while. Since I realized my parents probably were… well, I… I can’t go back. There’s no way.”

And after a moment, Bill said, “I c-c-can’t go back, either. My p-parents won’t care. And I ne-need to find Georgie and Eddie.”

“I’m definitely going. I can’t let them take me again.” Stan said. “I can’t…” He struggled not to cry again.

“Are you all _insane_?” Bev asked, eyes wide. “We can’t just leave! Kay, what are you doing, we-”

“Bev, I need you to listen to me a sec.” Kay said, looking rather sad as she turned towards her friend. “Bev, please, just… I know they really did help you-”

“They _saved_ me, Kay. How the hell am I supposed to just ignore that?”

Kay stared at her, and then said, “Yes, they saved you. I don’t deny that, they did one good thing there. But Bev, just because they treat you better than… than _he_ ever did, it doesn’t mean they’re treating you well. Bev, you’re _thirteen_ , you can’t even legally drive yet, and they’re training you to spy on murderers and arsonists for them. I’m barely fifteen- still can’t even drive- and they’re letting me babysit you, they expect me to defend you from any attacks and keep you in line.”

“Kay-”

“Bev, they get their recruits by _kidnapping children_.” Kay looked towards Mike as she kept speaking, watching him wilt slightly. “Stan’s right, they took a six-year-old and forced him down the future they wanted. They’ve taken younger- you remember the Snicket Lad song?”

Bev stared at her, shutting her eyes. “Kay, they…”

“And that’s not the only shit they pull. Why do you think it was so easy for them to cover up for you? They have ways of covering up anything. They get rid of anyone who disagrees with them. How do you think Anwhistle Aquatics got burned? You think Firestarters just happened to find it? Why do you think we’re not allowed to talk about the Baudelaire family anymore?”

“We’re… we’re trying to find them, we don’t-”

“They left, Bev, they figured out what we were and they got the fuck out before they could get recruited.” Kay said. “They’re disappointments to VFD because they found their way out.”

“Wait, did you… did you say that the Fire _fighters_ burned something?” Mike asked, looking up, shocked.

Kay whipped around. “Do you really think Firestarters just happened to find it after Snicket gave her report about how much she disagreed with Anwhistle’s project? Do you really think Firestarters just so _happen_ to find certain parents after the kids are gone? Parents who might’ve objected to their children being ripped from them and thrust into this bullshit?”

Mike looked horrified, and then he said, “Could… could they have done that to my parents?”

Kay watched him a second, and then said, “I don’t know. It’s possible. They did it to mine.”

Mike put his hand over his mouth, and then leaned into Stan, shutting his eyes to keep from crying.

Bev was silent, and Kay said, “Beverly, they treated you better than your Dad did. But how many of your chaperones have been kind to you? How many treated you like a kid, how many let you have fun and go off, how many didn’t force a job on you? Bev, have any of them eve been _nice_?”

Bev stared at the ground, and then said, “This… this has been my _life_ , Kay. I can’t just throw it away.”

“Bev…”

Ben stood up then, walking over and grabbing Bev’s hand. “Bev, you… I know you’re scared.” he said softly. “But you don’t have to stay with them because you don’t think you have a choice. You always have a choice. And you can come with us.”

“I can’t.” she said. “You all have to hate me. I…”

Ben hugged her then, and she sobbed.

Kay went to hug her, too, and then Richie raced up, shaking and pale, and then Mike and Stan, and finally Bill jumped up, and they were all hugging, half of them were crying, and the world had never felt so shaken up.

When they finally pulled apart, Kay wiped a tear from Bev’s face, and said, “Alright, Darling. I’ve got connections. I’m going to tell her we’re getting our Eddie back, then we’ll send you all her way.”

“Georgie-” Ben began.

“Won’t be at Headquarters.” Kay said. “But E will find him. I trust her.” she looked around. “Last chance, kids. Does anyone want to stay?”

Bill shook his head. So did Stan. Then Ben. And after a moment, so did Mike.

Bev and Richie stared at each other, and then Bev said, “I… Kay, are you sure I’ll…”

“You’ll be safe, darling.” Kay said, smiling. “These kids’ll be with you, and E can find you a safe place. You won’t have to deal with any of this bullshit anymore.”

Then, quietly, Richie said, “There’s something I have to tell you all.” They looked at him, and he continued, “It’s… the tunnels, that led to my basement, I… I knew they were there, I just didn’t know-”

“Goddamnit.” Bill said under his breath, realizing first. “Not you, too.”

“Uh, about that…” Richie began.

That’s when the doorbell rang.

They all froze up, and then Kay said, “You all stay here. If you hear a fight, get out the window. I will meet you at the gas station.”

“Kay?” Bev asked, scared.

“It’s alright.” Kay said carefully. “I’ll be right back.”

She left, and they all stayed eerily quiet.

They heard a loud shout from the door, and instantly Stan tensed up, as they heard the words, “ _McCall_ , are you hiding Uris here?”

“Who’s that?” Ben asked sharply, as Mike instinctively pushed Stan behind him.

“Fuck off, asshole! It’s just me and Bev and we’re tired as shit, go hunt your runaway kid somewhere else!”

“He’s gonna find me.” Stan said. “He’s gonna take me back, he’ll take us all back-”

“Not if I can h-help it.” Bill said. “No one will-”

“Is that hairspray?” Richie suddenly asked, pointing to a bottle on a shelf.

There was a confused silence, before Bev said, “Uh, yeah, A left it-”

Richie ran to the bottle, grabbing it and running to the front of the group. “Everyone back up.” he said, digging in his pocket with his free hand. “Someone grab Eddie’s suitcase. Bev, anything you can grab that’d be useful here, do it now.”

Bev hesitated, then rushed out the room, intending to grab some stuff from her room. After a moment’s pause, to confirm she wasn’t spotted by the chaperones having a shouting match in the front door, Richie said, “Everyone get out. This’ll be way too powerful.”

“What will?” Bill asked.

“I love using it, sure, but it’ll cause a lot of damage, probably destroy a lot of shit.”

“ _What are you talking about?_ ”

Bev suddenly appeared, a bag in hand. “That was fast.” Richie said.

“I have an emergency bag.” Bev shrugged. “What are we doing?”

“Get out the window.” Richie said.

“What are you doing?” Stan asked.

Richie paused, and then said, “What I was trained to do.”

Kay suddenly burst into the room, yelling, “Go, go, _go_!”

Richie didn’t hesitate, grabbing the girl’s arm and pushing her behind him as Mike ran to push the window open, ripping the curtains down in his haste.

By the time Stan’s chaperones rushed in, some of them had already gotten out the window.

And Richie saw them, flipped them off, and then pulled his lighter out, holding it in front of the can as he sprayed.

The spray ignited, and the makeshift flamethrower caught the nearest sofa on fire, spreading to the carpet.

Fire filled the room much faster than he’d thought.

 

Richie climbed out the window, and saw everyone staring at him.

“So, uh… yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you.”


	29. The Losers take a Road Trip

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

_The Losers take a Road Trip_

Everyone was silent as they sat in the alley, waiting for Kay to return.

“So…” Mike said, after about seven minutes, “You were a… a…”

“Firestarter.” Richie said, his voice breaking a bit. “Yeah.”

He shut his eyes as everyone watched him, as if waiting for him to continue. When he finally noticed this, he continued, “I don’t… Stan, you said you don’t remember your parents? I… I don’t either. My earliest memory is my first Chaperones- Firefighters, actually. Had me until I was eight. The Toziers. I don’t know if they were my parents, I… I think they probably kidnapped me. Or adopted. I don’t know, I never asked… well, I was raised in VFD. Then they got… they got burned. The house was found out, they tried to fight the Firestarters, I think they wanted something, that’s why they didn’t set it on fire immediately. Then they… the Firestarters grabbed me while they weren’t looking.”

“Holy shit.” Stan muttered.

Richie glanced away from them all, trying not to remember how he felt, hiding in his room, hearing shouts from downstairs, wondering what was happening, only to suddenly feel hands on his mouth, clenched around his throat, grabbing his arms… his glasses had shattered, and then he couldn’t see anything, he couldn’t _fucking_ see anything, it was all blurry as they dragged him out the window, telling him to stop biting them, stop struggling. He’d been shaking, screaming, sobbing… and then he’d seen the fire, and he’d melted into hysterics, and then… then his next memory was waking up in Firestarter base. He was sure something had happened between then, but… but he hadn’t processed anything.

He didn’t think he’d been able to process a lot of things for the next few months after that.

“And I just… I just went along with it.” Richie said quietly. “So they’d like me. So they wouldn’t hurt me. So I could be useful to someone. I just listened to everything they told me because I didn’t think I could do anything else, and… and then I… and now you all are…” he turned to Bev, struggling to hold back tears. “Can Kay really get us out?”

“I trust her.” Bev said quietly, still sounding like she was in shock. “I… Richie, I-”

“Guess we were enemies all along.” Richie said quietly. “You, Stan and Mike are Firefighters. I’m a Firestarter. The rest of you hate VFD. We should’ve been fighting each other the whole time.”

“But we’re n-not.” Bill said finally, looking between him, Bev, Mike and Stan. “We’re not. We’re friends. We’re together. That’s what matters. We’re going to stay together.”

He paused, and then looked to the side, and saw Ben crying. “Ben? What-”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” Ben said breathlessly. “I mean… everything’s wrong, but… God, I think everything’s just hitting me. We’re really leaving. We’re… we’re _thirteen_ , how are we…?”

“We can make it.” Bill said. “We can m-make it, Ben. We… we’ve gotta find- find the others.”

“We can’t just leave Eddie.” Mike added quietly, staring at nothing. “And we can’t stay here. What else are we supposed to do?”

Kay raced up then, saying, “Okay, bad news is I couldn’t rent a van. Good news is I have a van anyway.”

“Uh…” Ben started. “How did you-”

“I can drive,” Kay waved her hand, “But I’m going to need you all to hide in the back. We can’t let anyone see you. Technically, they can’t see me, either, so I’m gonna need a jacket with a hood or something if anyone’s got that.”

“Here ya go.” Bev said, pulling one out of her bag.

“Got it. If we get pulled over, I’m gonna need you to all pretend to be my siblings or friends or something. If we get pulled over by VFD, run as fast as you possibly can. I’m gonna take you to Headquarters, but we’re going to have to be very, very careful. Got it?”

They all nodded, and Bill asked, “How f-far is it?”

“A few hours. Anyone need food?”

“I mean… _eventually_.” Ben said.

“Meh, we’ll be fine.” Kay waved her hand. “Everyone get in, and also, there aren’t any seatbelts in the back, or seats, so pray we don’t get in an accident.”

“This is a bad plan.” Stan said under his breath, but that didn’t stop him from standing up and joining them.

They decided after about ten minutes of a silent car ride that they _really_ didn’t want to talk about anything that was going on, so instead Bev dug some playing cards out of her bag and passed them around.

After about two hours of any card game they could think of off the top of their head, Richie threw his cards down and said, “Alright, I vote we start singing _Ninety-Nine Bottles_ , what do you think?”

“If you do that, I will murder you.” Stan said.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Bill said, “So… you g-guys were sent to Derry to…”

“Study up on our chosen fields.” Stan said quietly. “Under Chaperones, so we get experience on what it’s like to be a Volunteer.”

“I’m studying design and disguises.” Bev said blankly, before correcting herself. “I mean… I _was_. Guess I gotta drop that now… _God_ …”

“I was doing ornithology.” Stan said quietly.

“History.” Mike added.

They turned to Richie, who paused and then said, “I didn’t really… have a thing. Arson, I guess. I’m pretty good with disguises, too. That was always fun, we could do cool voices and come up with characters and stuff. Probably the least shitty thing we learned how to do. I remember this one girl was _so good_ at it, she was top of the class. I dunno what happened to her after we left Headquarters. But I always thought, well, if she’s fine here, and the other kids are happy, too, then maybe it’s not as bad as…” He sunk a little, and said, “Shit, they’ll be after you guys, now.”

“VFD’ll always be after us.” Stan said quietly. “We’re in some deep shit now.”

“I think we were always in deep shit,” Ben said, “We just know that we are now, which I think is better. At least we’re not sitting around while everyone secretly plans to abduct us into a cult.”

Bev glanced towards Kay, making sure she was focused on the road, before saying, “I don’t know anything about this girl Kay thinks can get us safe. If… if we show up, and she’s… not helpful, we can… listen, I can take care of you all. I’ll protect you, I’ll…” she took a deep breath. “Anything to… to make up for… I’m sorry, this is… today’s been insane for me, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore…”

“N-none of us do.” Bill said blankly. Then, after a second, “Sorry I punched you.”

“Sorry I distracted you from Eddie getting kidnapped.” Bev replied.

“Sorry I set Stan’s house on fire.” Richie said.

Immediately, a chorus of “That was _you?_ ”s and “You did _what_?”s echoed.

“I had stuff in there!” Stan yelled over everyone else.

“Well, it’s not like you were gonna _use it_!” Richie yelled back. “We’re all fucking outta Derry anyway! And hey, you got a bag of all your important shit, most of us don’t even have that!”

“Yeah,” Kay said, glancing behind them, the shouting directing her attention towards the kids, “Should we have stopped by your houses or something?”

“N-no.” Bill said quickly. “We c-c-couldn’t risk our p-parents or VFD f-finding us.” He paused, and then said, “That r-reminds me, do you guys h-have…” He reached into his pocket, pulling out half a spyglass. Everyone stared at it, a bit shocked, for a moment, before Mike grabbed his own spyglass from his pocket, holding it out, followed by Bev, Stan and Richie.

“They decipher codes when put together.” Mike said. “Sometimes they can do other things, too, like heat up. They’re also designed to split in half in case of fire, so that any secrets inside of it die with the Volunteer.”

“Oh, cause _that’s_ not creepy.” Ben said, looking horrified.

“Is there an-anything else you have?” Bill said.

At that, Mike’s eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. “ _Shit_! All those books are at the farm!”

Bev and Stan also groaned, as Ben said, “What books?”

“A buncha VFD books.” Bev said. “Including _Incomplete History_ -”

“Holy _shit_ , you guys got one of those?” Richie sat up, suddenly interested. “I thought the one at Stan’s house was the only one nearby, my mentors have been burning the shit outta those for _ever_. Don’t like VFD knowing what’s in them. Hell, maybe I can actually read one now.”

“Well, we can’t, cause they’re at the farm. Those could’ve been helpful.” Mike said, sinking slightly.

“Well, we have my books and notes.” Ben said, gesturing to his own bag.

“And we can split the clothes in my bag.” Bev said. “We’re probably gonna be travelling a while.”

“You guys can take some of mine.” Stan said. “And we might be able to borrow Eddie’s if he lets us. Not really enough, but maybe it’ll last until we reach wherever this _E_ girl is.”

“And then what do we do?” Bev asked.

Nobody answered, and then after a second, Richie started passing out cards again, and they drove the rest of the way in silence.


	30. Eddie Kaspbrak picks a Lock

**CHAPTER THIRTY**

_Eddie Kaspbrak picks a Lock_

 

Eddie finally woke up at around Nine in the Afternoon, and he woke up pissed.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true; he woke up around 6:30 first, and threw up into a trashcan, feeling dizzy and scared and not quite sure where he was; now that he thought about it, that was probably the effect of whatever they’d used to knock him out. After several minutes, he had passed out on the provided bed again, and then finally woke up again with the ability to process what was going on.

It took only a few seconds for it to hit Eddie what had happened, and he sat up sharply, which was a bit of a mistake as he suddenly had a really bad headache. He shut his eyes for a second, trying his best to stay calm and steady his breathing, but it was a bit hard when the loudest thought in his head was _You’ve just been kidnapped, you’ve just been kidnapped, you’ve just been kidnapped_.

After a moment, Eddie managed to open his eyes and get out of the bed- which was very uncomfortable, he noted- and take a look around. First thing he notice was his arm was in a sling- shit, had it broken or something? Well, he’d have to do everything one-handed. The room he in was small and painted gray, with only one white door on the far wall- locked, he assumed, but he’d check in a second. There was a sidetable next to his bed, with a drawer he pulled open and found empty. There was also a bookshelf on the other side of the wall, and Eddie quickly made his way over there and started pulling at books, remembering that one movie Richie dragged him to where the detective found a secret passage by taking out the right book. Most of the books were boring old classics they made kids read in school when they had nothing better to do, but sometimes Eddie found some photos paperclipped to the inside pages. When he got through all the books and found no passage, Eddie finally made his way to the door.

He tried to open it, and just as he suspected, it was locked. He glanced down, noticing quickly his fanny pack was gone- just his fucking luck, huh? He probably didn’t have hairpins in there, anyway, but maybe he’d have something he could fashion into a lockpick. What else could be used as a lockpick? Eddie shut his eyes, trying to calm himself down enough to think. He and Bill had learned how to pick locks when they were eight, because Bill had seen his Dad do it when they locked themselves out of the house and thought it might be good to learn. What had they used… plastic bottles? There weren’t any here. Hairpins were already out, he didn’t think he had a knife…

Wait!

He raced back to the books, grabbing two that had photos paperclipped inside and took the clips, struggling to hold them with just one arm. He went over to the table, throwing the photos to the side and taking the paperclips, grabbing them so he could straighten them out. One he’d managed to do that, he grabbed the first one, struggling to bend it into the right shape; a nice ninety-degree angle- that was what they’d done, right? God, he hoped he was right. He took the second one and worked at bending it into some waves.

By the time he finally got that, his mind had finally reached the _Once I get out of this room, what am I going to do?_ point. He paused, glancing down at the clips.

 _There has to be a window in this building._ He thought. _Or an open door. I’ll run, find my way back to Derry. I can find the others, we can run away. Ben wanted to run away, I’m sure he’s got a plan._

_We probably won’t be safe. We might never be. But we’ll be together._

He picked up the paperclips and went to the door.

 

“Headquarters is just out of sightline.” Kay said as she parked the car, throwing open the backdoors so she could sit with the others for a moment. “Stan, if your Chaperones managed to… well, no telegram would reach Headquarters on time anyway. So I’m going in with Bev and Mike, we’re gonna say we want to transition Eddie more easily into apprenticeship, then while me and Bev distract the other Volunteers, Mike’ll get Eddie out a window. Think you can do that?”

Bev and Mike nodded.

“I want to-” Bill began.

“There’s no way any of the rest of you can help.” Kay said simply. “They’ll ask Stan why his chaperones aren’t with him, Richie’s a fucking firestarter, and none of the rest of you are registered Volunteers. You’ll draw too much suspicion. If someone comes near the van, camp outside Headquarters and wait for Mike to get out of the window, then hide with him until Bev and I get out. Alright?”

Hesitantly, everyone murmured agreement, and Kay said, “Alright, Bev, Mike, with me. We’ll come back with Eddie or we won’t come back at all.”

“Please don’t say that.” Ben said.

“No point sugarcoating.” Kay shrugged. “Let’s go.”

Bev and Mike paused just outside the doors, as if to say something, but eventually they just turned away and left without a word.

Once the doors closed, Ben turned to Bill and said, “I… I really do think they’re trying to help.”

“You’re sure they’re not just gonna go in there and tell everyone where we are?” Richie asked blankly.

Stan jumped. “They _better not_!”

“I don’t…” Bill paused. “Kay wouldn’t sp-spend all that t-t-time convincing Bev and M-Mike that VFD was b-bullshit if she d-didn’t believe it. I thi-think she’s trying to he-help.”

“But we’re so close to Headquarters.” Richie said, bouncing his leg nervously. “They could find us at any moment.”

There was a beat, and then Stan said, “Can we at least wait outside the car? So we’re not… trapped?”

“Sounds good.” Bill muttered, before getting up to open the doors.

 

The door opened within minutes, and Eddie peered around the crack. Nobody was in the hallway, which was good. He slid out, wondering if maybe he should find some kind of weapon- what would he use, anyway? He wouldn’t be strong enough to break a table leg, it wasn’t as if heavy books made for _amazing_ projectiles, and he only had use of one arm. He shouldn’t be trying to fight these people, probably. He just had to get out and find his friends.

That was, if he was near Derry. But he had to be, he can’t imagine he was knocked out for more than a day, how far away could he be? He would just get out, find a map somewhere, make his way back to Derry, find his friends, run like hell.

It wouldn’t be that hard, right?

Eddie turned a bend and saw a window and decided it was a good idea to look outside. He peered out, and immediately paled when he realized he was several floors up. He didn’t dare try climbing out that way, he didn’t know what he’d do if he fell, and he'd never climbed with one arm before. He focused on the landscape, then, noticing they looked like they were in the middle of the woods. Well, shit. How far would he have to go to get into a town? Hell, was wandering alone in the woods better than being stuck in a building with a cult?

He took a deep breath, gripping at the edge of his shirt. _Don’t freak out, you don’t have your aspirator…_

 _You don’t_ need _your aspirator! You’re not even sick!_ _Just get out of here and figure something out!_

Eddie took a breath and then went down the hall. He just had to find the stairs. Find the stairs, and he’d be okay.

He turned a bend and heard voices, swore under his breath, and ducked back down the hall. His first instinct was to keep running, but instead he stayed put, waiting and listening.

And then he heard a voice he recognized.

“Yes, I understand you’ll still be in charge. I just feel he’ll be more… receptive if I give him a talk.”

_Beverly?_

_No…_

“I think you’ll find her very persuasive.” said a voice he didn’t recognize. “And this kid, too, he wanted to come along very badly.”

“Well, he’s my friend, too.”

_Mike?_

Eddie knew he should move, he should keep running, they were about to turn the bend and see him, they were about to _see him_ … But that was Bev. And Mike. His _friends._ What were they doing with the Volunteers, what were they… were they part of this? If they were part of this, was Ben? Richie? Stan? _Bill?_ No, Bill couldn’t… but if Bev and Mike were in this, who said that none of the rest of his friends were?

“ _Eddie_!”

Eddie swore under his breath as he looked around, seeing that, indeed, Bev and Mike had turned the bend, with another teenager next to them and an adult Volunteer behind.

They were all frozen for a moment, and then Bev said, “Shit. Kay, just…”

The teenager swung around and immediately jumped on the Volunteer, as Bev and Mike ran forwards and grabbed Eddie’s arms.

“We’re getting you the hell out of here.” Mike said.

Eddie suddenly felt relieved. “You mean you’re not-”

“Not currently.” Bev said.

“What does that-”

“Just run, we’ll explain everything in the van.”

 

The boys sat outside the van, in the grass, looking out into the trees.

“I can probably get a job.” Ben mused. “Maybe I can write for a newspaper column, I’m alright at poetry. Or maybe I can get a Librarian to hire me to reshelve books or something.”

“I could try selling some sh-short stories.” Bill said. “But I dunno…”

“They could pay me to set things on fire. That’d be the dream.” Richie laughed slightly.

“Maybe this E girl can get us money.” Stan said.

“Or maybe we can live on the street.” Richie said. “Eat outta trashcans. Fistfight raccoons for a good sleeping spot.”

“I’d rather not.” Stan said.

The boys stared ahead, and then Bill said, “St-Stan? Wh-when we to-took Bev in the t-tunnels, she s-seemed to kn-know who the B-Baudelaires were. Is that b-because of VFD?”

Stan hesitated, then said, “Probably, yeah.”

“Wh-who are they?”

“They… about, uh, two or three years ago, the Baudelaire mansion burned down, and- well, they tried to recruit the kids, some of us knew about it, because the Baudelaires were pretty important Volunteers and our Chaperones were excited to see what their kids could do, but… well, it didn’t end… well. It… long story short, at least seven Volunteers got killed, a hotel got set on fire, three other potential recruits and an apprentice vanished without a trace, and one of the fucking Snickets started spilling shit. It was a mess, and… VFD doesn’t like messes.”

“And what happened to the Baudelaires?” Ben asked.

Stan shrugged. “Vanished after the Hotel Fire. Nobody knows what happened. Some people think they died, but there were reports of someone seeing them on Briny Beach about a year ago, but we’re not sure if they’re real… anyway, us apprentices thought it was the coolest shit, it was the most interesting thing to happen since the Manatee thing. But we only got to discuss it for, like, a day before the Volunteers put a stop to it. Told us we weren’t to talk about them, you know. I think it was a bit embarrassing for them. But sometimes I think it might b-”

“Wait.” Richie suddenly held up a hand, terror flickering in his eyes.

When they shut up, they heard what Richie had; a car driving up.

“Shit, shit, _shit_!” Richie said.

Stan peered around the van, saying, “It looks like a VFD car. I mean, their Headquarters is right there, and if we move around the van a bit we can avoid being seen-”

Richie looked around Stan, and immediately froze.

“Rich?”

“It’s them.” Richie said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Fuck, fuck… it’s them…”

“Wh-what?” Bill dragged Stan and Richie back before they could get spotted. “Who is it?”

Richie looked about ready to cry. “My chaperones.”


	31. Another "Everything Goes to Shit" Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the mini-hiatus but it's Halloween bitches

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

_Another “Everything Goes to Shit” Chapter!_

 

“We have to go. _Now._ ” Richie said.

The boys moved to hide on another side of the van as the car passed by. Richie was absolutely terrified, bouncing on his feet and looking prepared to run into the woods at the slightest provocation, his eyes darting around as he started shaking.

“Richie-” Stan began, sounding about as scared.

“We have to leave. We have to get out.” Richie said, his voice rising with his panic. “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to _kill me_ , I shouldn’t have left, they’ll kill us, we have to _run_ -”

“Richie-” Ben started.

“We’re going to _die_!” Richie said, on the edge of tears. “We’re going to _fucking die_ , they’re-”

Bill reached out, grabbing Richie by the shoulders. “Richie! Rich. Richie, l-l-look at me. Look at m-me. Calm down, calm d-down.”

“They’re gonna-”

“Richie. Calm down. Take a breath. L-L-Look at me.”

Still breathing heavily, Richie stared at Bill, still looking terrified.

“Bev and Mike and Eddie are in that building.” Ben said carefully. “And Kay. Your Chaperones, they’ll burn it, won’t they?”

Richie nodded.

“We need to get them out.” Ben said.

“We’ll get spotted.” Richie said, back to panicking. “We’ll get spotted and they’ll kill us, my chaperones, they’ll kill _me_ , a-and they’ll cover it up and no one will know, I shouldn’t have left, I shouldn’t have left, they’ll be so mad, they’ll kill me, they’ll kill me like they killed her-”

“Richie.” Bill said, still trying to calm him down. “We’ll th-think of s-something. We’ll g-go through the trees. See if we can sp-spot them coming out the windows. We w-won’t let them get c-caught, and we won’t let them c-catch you, either.”

“Bill, you don’t understand.” Richie said. “They’ll kill me. They… they might not kill you, you’re potential recruits, but I up and left, they’ll kill me…”

“We won’t let that happen.” Bill said. “We won’t. But we need to get the others out. We need to get Eddie, Rich. And Bev, and Mike. We need to get them out.”

Richie stared for another second, then took a breath and said, “You’re right. We have to get them out. We can’t let them get to them…”

“Okay, we’re gonna go through the w-w-woods,” Bill said, gesturing towards the right. “We’ll go up behind the b-b-building-”

“Guys.” Ben interrupted.

“What?”

“They’re coming back.”

They all froze, and then Richie moved by Ben to see, and then ducked back behind the car, on the verge of a panic attack. “They’re gonna search the car,” he said, “And spot us. There’s no way they can’t spot us, we can’t even get into the _woods_ …”

“Bill, what are we gonna do?” Stan asked, his face draining of color.

Bill paused, and then turned to Richie. “You th-think they’ll kill you?” He nodded. “But w-we’re potential r-recruits?”

“Yeah.” Richie said. “They’ll brainwash you, they’ll train you, they’ll…” he bit back another panicked addition, about to break.

Bill glanced towards Ben, realizing he was thinking the same thing. The two boys nodded at each other and then, Bill said, “Get to the building.”

“What-” Stan and Richie both whispered, as Ben and Bill leapt up and rushed out from behind the car, running towards the other side of the woods. They heard shouts from the adults, and then more running.

“Did… did they…” Stan froze.

“Bill!” Richie jumped up. “Ben!”

“No, don’t!” Stan grabbed his arm, also getting to his feet. “We have to get the others!”

“We can’t-”

“We won’t leave them, but we have to get to the others and warn them first!”

Richie turned to look back at Ben and Bill, and then said, “Quickly. Before they find us-”

Richie felt his arm grabbed and he was dragged back, his immediate first thought being, _Too late._

“ _Richie_!” Stan yelled as his friend was tossed to the ground.

 _Shit. They brought friends._ Richie thought, glancing up to see a man he barely recognized- had he seen him at Headquarters? Or did he just look close enough to someone he might know?

Before he could think to move, Stan ran at the man, leaping up and pushing him with a move he could have only gotten from Volunteer classes. The man stumbled- he didn’t fall, but it was enough to throw him off-balance, which was what Stan needed to duck down and kick his legs.

“ _Run_!” Stan rushed forwards, hauled Richie to his feet, and pushed him forwards. “Go, go, _go_!”

Richie took off running, but stopped just a few feet ahead when he saw Stan whip around, ducking away from the Firestarter, who’d stood up and tried to grab his arm.

“Stan!”

“Richie, _go_!” Stan yelled. “Just keep running!”

“I’m not-”

“ _Go_!”

And, feeling panicked tears start to flow, Richie turned and ran.

 

“Go, go, go!”

Eddie gripped onto Mike’s arm as they all rushed down the stairs, Kay bringing up the rear in case they were attacked from behind, and Bev in front in case they ran into a Volunteer going up.

“I don’t understand,” Eddie said quickly, “You’re part of this? And you didn’t tell us? Do the others know?”

“Yeah, they’re waiting outside.” Mike said. “And we’re not… we’re on hiatus from VFD, you could say.”

“Just be honest and say you’re running away on impulse.” Kay said, glancing worriedly over her shoulder. “I was hoping I could be a Chaperone and get a few more kids out, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

“And we’re running away?” Eddie asked. “Shit, I don’t have my- you know what, nevermind, I don’t need meds.”

“Uh, that’s not a great thought process.” Mike said, jumping a step.

“No, I actually don’t. Turns out my Mom was bullshitting me. But all my stuff-”

“In the car.” Bev said. “Rich found it in your house.”

“You guys broke into my house?”

“We broke into Stan’s, too, and Richie burned that one down, so-”

“He did _what_?”

“Yeah, he was a Firestarter. Left with us.”

“Shit, is anyone else-”

“Stan.”

“ _Fucking really?_ ”

“Hey, we’re all out now.” Mike interrupted, as they reached the landing. “So let’s get the _fuck_ out of this building and hit the road. If we get caught, we’re all in deep shit.”

Bev opened the door, glanced out, and then nodded, and Mike pushed Eddie out with them, Kay following close behind. “If anyone sees you with us, they’ll freak.” Bev whispered. “So we’re gonna climb out a window. Kay, where-”

“Two rights,” Kay said, “And there’ll be a wall full of them. Pick one and climb out.”

“So long as we don’t run into any Volunteers, we should be fine.” Mike said. “But just in case, Eddie, stay with me. We can fight them better than you can.”

“I dunno,” Eddie said under his breath, “I’m pissed enough that I might be able to knock some fucker out.”

“Don’t risk it.” Mike said.

“Wait.” Bev said, sliding to a stop. “Shut up.”

They all froze, and Eddie muttered, “What is it?”

Bev’s eyes widened as she stepped towards a bend in the hall, and Eddie had a fleeting moment of panic, wondering if someone was coming.

Bev stared down the hall, her face slacking into a disbelieving stare. And then, quietly, she said, “Kay, there’s a fire.”

Kay and Mike both yelled, “ _What?_ ”

Kay raced forwards first, while Mike pushed Eddie back a bit. The two girls stared ahead, and now that Eddie had time to think, he did indeed feel a bit more heat than might be normal.

“Shit.” Kay muttered under her breath. “Back down the hall, go, go, go!”

They all turned and ran, Mike gripping onto Eddie’s arm and pushing him ahead. “What’s going on?” Eddie asked, feeling a bit panicked. “Why is-”

“Do you think they followed us?” Bev asked Kay.

“Possibly.” Kay said darkly, sliding to a stop at a fork in the hallway, before saying, “Right. There’ll be windows there, we can get out.”

“Who’s ‘they’? The arsonists?” Eddie asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Bev said.

“Do you think they followed Richie?” Mike asked, sounding worried.

“I doubt it.” Bev said. “He was with us all day. Shit, we’ve gotta get him out of- thank _God_!”

They turned a bend, and Kay rushed forwards towards a window. After a second, she grabbed a chair leaning against a wall and smashed the glass. She turned towards the others, saying, “Get out, go!”

Eddie stared at the window, his mind screaming at him _you’re gonna get scratched by glass shards, that’s super dangerous, you’re gonna get hurt, Eddie._ He bit his lip and glanced towards Mike, who was glancing behind them, as if wondering how fast the fire could reach them.

Bev jumped out first, and then said, “Eddie, Mike, come on!”

Eddie hesitated, then ran forwards and jumped through. He flinched as he did indeed land on some shards, but thankfully his shoes weren’t pierced. Mike came out next, and then, after a second, Kay jumped out. They all glanced to the side, where they could see smoke coming from the building.

“We’ll run through the woods.” Kay said quickly. “Zig-zag for a bit, then head to the car.”

“Do you think-” Bev began.

“I suggest,” Mike interrupted, “We stop standing around and talking, because other Volunteers are going to be leaving this building.”

“Fair point, Hanlon.” Kay said.

They took off running, with Eddie glancing behind him to watch the smoke rise. He wasn’t entirely sure he was processing what was happening right now- he’d started this morning fully realizing his life had been a lie, and was now on the run from some crazy cult his friends might also be a part of.

Well, if he’d thought his life was going to be boring, he’d certainly been wrong.

It was a bit hard to run through the woods, seeing as Eddie kept tripping over roots and fallen branches, and Kay kept cursing whenever she lost her way. There were also several times they thought they heard someone nearby, and Mike pushed them all into the bushes until they were certain nobody was nearby.

But after a few minutes, they heard someone approaching, and before they could all hide, they heard a very familiar voice calling.

“Guys? Guys, is that you?”

“Richie?” Eddie asked, surprised.

“Oh, fuck.” Kay muttered, as Richie ran through the trees, finally spotting them.

God, he looked awful; his eyes were red, he was covered in dirt- probably fell down while running- and he seemed to be shaking quite a bit.

“Are you okay?” Mike asked, scared.

“What happened?” Bev added.

“Where are the others?” Kay asked.

“What the _fuck_ -” Eddie began.

“They’re… they’re here.” Richie said shakily, looking around at the others. “My chaperones, they-”

“We know.” Kay said. “They set the damn place on fire.”

“They-” Richie said, before saying, “I think…”

“Richie,” Bev sounded very, very scared. “Where are the others?”

Richie glanced behind him, as if wondering if they’d run up behind him. When he turned back, he somehow looked more distraught. “They… I think… _God_ , I think my chaperones found them…”

“What?” the other kids both looked horrified, and Eddie picked up on enough context clues to figure out why.

“Rich, are you saying the arsonists took our friends?” Eddie asked.

Richie bit his lip, struggling not to break down, and nodded. “I… Bill and Ben ran off, but they wouldn’t be able to… we can get through the woods faster, my chaperones are adults and Bill and Ben… and Stan was behind me, I think he got into a fight with one of… and he… they’re all gonna…”

“We have to go back for them!” Bev said.

Richie stared at her for a second, and then said, “They’ll kill us. They’ll kill me cause I ran, and they’ll drag the rest of you to Headquarters and try to… to recruit you, I don’t… I don’t know what we can _do_ , we’ll…”

Bev glanced at Kay, who looked just as worried. Mike glanced behind Richie, looking about ready to run out and find their friends anyway. Eddie just glanced between everyone, wondering what was going to happen.

After a second, Mike moved, rushing to hug Richie, who still stared ahead, looking panicked. Eddie wondered just how fucking terrifying his “chaperones” must be; he’d only seen Richie look slightly anxious at times, never this horrified.

Then, after a second, Bev walked forwards, meeting Richie’s eyes. “You think they’ll kill you because you tried to leave?”

“What else would they do?” Richie asked helplessly. “It happens to Volunteers, too. We can’t leave. I shouldn’t have…”

“What if you didn’t?”

The silence that followed was very fucking dreadful. Finally, after carefully pulling away from Mike, a shocked Richie asked, “What?”

Bev took a deep breath, and then said, “Kay, you have chloroform with you?”

“Of course.” Kay said, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a bottle and handkerchief. “Just in case.”

“Holy shit.” Eddie whispered under his breath.

Bev glanced back to Richie, and then said, “Chloroform me.”

Everyone started shouting, and Bev had to hold up her hands, yelling, “Shut up! We can’t be found out yet, got it?” she looked towards Richie. “Knock me out. Tell your Chaperones you went with us to find Headquarters. You’re bringing me as a new recruit. They’ll take you to HQ with them, then you let us all out and get us the _hell_ out of there. We can’t just leave Ben and Bill and Stan in the hands of those…” she bit her lip, and then said, “We won’t be there long. And I can take care of myself, if they try to hurt me. Just do whatever you can to get us out.”

“Bev, no fucking way am I letting you do this.” Kay said. “The Volunteers might be shit, but they won’t set you on fire to see how you burn.”

“They don’t…” Richie began, then said, “Bev, you’ll be thrown into the fucking Lion pit, if they think you’re a threat… if they think we’re working together…”

“We can’t leave our friends there!” Bev protested. “They’ll be defenseless and _alone_. This is our best shot.”

“I’ll go, too.” Eddie said.

“And I’ll-” Mike began.

“There’s no sense putting you all in danger.” Bev said. “Kay can get you somewhere safe-”

“We’re not leaving our friends behind!” Eddie said quickly.

“I can take them,” Kay offered, “And follow you to Headquarters.”

“The van’ll be wrecked.” Richie guessed. “Slashed tires, they’ll probably ransack our stuff…”

“We’ll steal another car.” she said. “There’ll be some hidden behind headquarters, they’re bound to abandon one or two. We’ll go to whatever town is nearby, I’ll call E, and then we’ll wait outside their Headquarters for you to escape.”

They stared for a second, and then Richie said, “It’s not too far away. You ever heard of Castle Rock? That’s probably where we’ll go first. It's on the road through the woods, past the asylum, just outside of town.”

“Castle Rock.” Kay repeated. “Got it.”

“Wait, no!” Eddie protested. “This is dumb! Mike and I aren’t just gonna leave you guys in the hands of those assholes!”

“Eddie.” Bev said, looking sad. “We’ll be okay. We’re trained for this.”

“But-”

“Eddie, we’ll help them get out.” Mike said, looking pained as he moved over towards him. “But we need someone on the inside to get the boys out.” he turned to Richie, and said, “Be careful.”

Richie looked about ready to cry, but he nodded. “Run.” he said quietly. “Get to the cars. Before they find-”

Eddie ran forwards and threw his arms around Richie, clutching him for a moment. Richie froze up, but hugged him back quickly, and soon Bev and Mike were there, too.

When they pulled away, Bev ran over and hugged Kay, saying, “Stay safe.”

“Don’t die.” Kay said softly.

Then, Mike grabbed Eddie’s hand again, and they ran after Kay, down the path in the woods.

Bev slowly turned back to Richie, both of them noticing the same fear reflected in their eyes.

“I won’t let them hurt you.” Richie said quickly. “And if you want to leave-”

“I’m not running away.” Bev said, her voice sounding a bit choked. She held up the chloroform bottle and handkerchief, and said, “Alright, Tozier. Let's knock me out.”

 

It wasn’t even six minutes later when L and T found them.

Richie supposed they’d been going through the woods to look for Volunteers- probably not even him, since they looked a bit surprised to see him. But that surprise might be due to the fact he was sitting on the ground, holding the unconscious body of a Volunteer girl, her chloroform bottle spilled on the ground and a handkerchief bundled in his hand.

He looked up at them, trying to bite back the panic almost completely taking him over.

“What’s up?” he said shakily. “I got a new friend for you.”


	32. Eddie Kaspbrak and Mike Hanlon go on a Road Trip

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

_Eddie Kaspbrak and Mike Hanlon go on a Road Trip_

 

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad.” Eddie said again.

Kay had been driving for about two hours; they’d only stopped once, to see if any of their stuff was still in the original car. She’d managed to find most of Eddie’s stuff and a few of Bev’s, though it had all been scattered across the back of the car; the Firestarters were probably looking for anything useful, and kids’ clothes and schoolbooks probably weren’t in that category.

They were definitely several minutes, maybe even an hour, behind the Firestarters. But they’d probably reach Castle Rock before it even got dark.

Not that that calmed Eddie down at all.

“I should’ve gone with them.” Eddie said.

“Yeah, cause you can chloroform two people fighting you.” Kay rolled her eyes. “It actually takes a lot longer than you’d think, and you’d be able to fight him even with only one arm-”

“We just left them in the hands of a bunch of fucking arsonists…” Eddie muttered.

“Please stop talking.” Mike said, looking incredibly nervous as he stared out the window.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“We have some books in the back.” Kay suggested.

“I’m not gonna sit here and read while my friends are in danger!”

Kay smirked slightly. “Oh, you would’ve made a _shit_ Volunteer.”

“Good.” Eddie muttered.

 

Kay parked them in front of a restaurant, saying, “I’ve got some money, we’re gonna get you two some food, buy some extra for when we get your friends out, and call up E.”

“That’s your contact, right?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah. I’m gonna let her know what’s going on. She’s gonna lose her mind, but, you know, whatever.”

They did indeed go in, thankful that they didn’t look that dirty. Mike and Kay did a lot better job looking competent than Eddie, though, and Kay quickly spun a story about them being foster siblings meeting up with their friends in town when the waitress asked where their parents were, and about how Eddie fell out of a tree to explain his broken arm.

After about ten minutes of silence, though, while they waited for their food order, Kay excused herself and went outside to use the payphone.

Eddie glanced at Mike, and said, “Should we listen in?”

“I’ll go, you stay.” Mike said. “I’m better at sneaking than you.”

“Yeah, I guess you were trained in it.” Eddie said darkly, staring down at the table.

“Just… be careful.” Mike said, glancing around at everybody else, as if any one of them could be a threat. “If you sense danger, come get us.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Mike nodded and then slowly walked out.

The payphone was around the corner, so Mike just stood against the wall, waiting and listening to Kay’s hushed whispers.

“...no, no, we’re… Mike, Eddie and I are safe. The others are… but we’re getting them out. Richie should have them out by tonight, we’re going right after we get food. Yes, we’ll be careful… you want me to take them straight to you? I don’t know if we’ll be able to, we might have to… no, no, you don’t have to come. I don’t want to bother you.”

Well, at least it seemed like Kay was telling the truth about E. That was good to know.

“Yeah, an HQ got burned, so… that’s something. Guess I’m gonna have to go into hiding earlier than planned… yeah, you think? Well, hopefully we’ll get there soon. How’s Robin? Oh, good. Heard anything from Vicky and… well, shit. Maybe they’ll talk to us soon…”

Mike tapped his foot a bit, wondering why he’d thought this was a good idea. Maybe he should’ve stayed with Eddie, this wasn’t a very good idea, he’d trusted of Kay already…

“Oh shit, that reminds me… did you… did you hear anything else about that Phoenix kid?”

Mike paused, now listening much more intently. That sounded… interesting, especially including the way she hesitated before saying it, as if she was about to breach a forbidden subject.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll let her out soon. I’m just worried about Kal, I think the fact she’s the only one we know of… well, she’s gotta be concerned. And… did you… did you hear anything about the Baudelaires?”

Mike almost completely froze over.

“No, I’m not changing the subject, I wanna know what you… ugh, well, something’ll have to turn up soon, right? It’s been so long since they were spotted at the beach… No, I swear, you don’t have to come. Look, I’ll call you once we’re all safe, okay?” She paused, and then said, “One last thing. Those girls, have you found them yet? I want to make sure they’re…” Mike heard her breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. How are they?”

Mike hesitated, and then decided it’d be best to leave. He probably wasn’t going to get any information here, and this call seemed to be turning personal. He walked back into the restaurant, sitting back at their table. Eddie looked up from the napkin he’d been compulsively folding, and asked, “Anything interesting?”

“Well, we can trust her, I think.” Mike said. “Talking to E about other kids and stuff.”

Eddie _hmm_ ed and stared down at the napkin again.

“Are you…” Mike paused. “Taking this well?”

“Course not.” Eddie said. “You, Bev and Stan were in a cult, and everyone but us has been taken away, my Mom was lying to me about my medication my whole life, and that’s just what I found out _today_! And now we’re on the run…” he took a breath, and looked up to Mike. “We’re… we’re never gonna go back to Derry, are we?”

They were silent for a moment, and then Mike said, “Do you want to?”

“Fuck no.”

Mike smiled, laughing a bit. “Then we won’t.”

“I never wanna see any of those assholes again.”

“I don’t, either. And I’m sure the others’ll feel the same.”

“Yeah, Derry kinda sucked.” Eddie said. “All the kids at school were dicks.”

“And the adults didn’t give a shit.”

“And the takeout sucked.”

“And the theater always got stuff three days late.”

“Not to mention,” Eddie smiled slightly, “The cult.”

“Oh, yeah, there was that.”

Eddie stopped smiling quickly, and then asked, “What… what was it like?”

Mike opened his mouth, about to answer a programmed response- educational, important, informational, influential- but as he was about to speak, he remembered what Kay had said.

_“They get rid of anyone who disagrees with them.”_

He thought about how he was always thrown from place to place, how he’d been expected to be an adult since he got recruited. How they never listened to him. How they never cared.

How nobody ever comforted him when he cried over his parents. He remembered a Chaperone yelling at him to _get over it, everybody dies eventually, Hanlon._

Everyone dies eventually, Hanlon.

“Difficult.” he finally settled on.

Before he could elaborate, Kay ran in, sliding next to him. “Food not here yet?” she asked.

“No.” Eddie said. “But it should be soon. How was your call?”

“Good.” Kay answered. “Tell you more on the road.” her face darkened as she glanced out the window. “After we get your friends.”

 

Towards the end of their meal, Kay glanced behind her shoulder, and then said, “Mike, corner table by the door.”

Mike stiffened, before purposefully knocking a spoon off the table and ducking down to grab it, glancing up in the direction she’d referenced as he did.

At first, it just looked like two adults on a date; both dressed up in nice clothes, the woman with her hair up nicely and the man saying something to make her laugh. But, well, Mike had been trained to look closely at basically everything, and he noticed three things very quickly. Alone, none of the facts were very suspicious, but together…

One, they were dressed quite practically; their outfits didn’t look too expensive, so if they were dirtied it wouldn’t be too much of a loss, they had practical running shoes, hair was out of the way so it wouldn’t fall into the eyes or get grabbed or tangled, and neither person had any jewelry on. Neither of them had any bags, either.

Two, their position by the door- and also a window, he now noticed- meant that they could see _and_ reach anyone who came in and out that way, incredibly easily. And it was an odd position for them to be in; there were plenty of empty tables, and Mike doubted that people were purposefully put next to the door if there was somewhere else they could go, unless they requested.

Three, neither of them were taking sugar with their tea.

Mike got back up, glancing between a stone-faced Kay and a worried Eddie.

“What do you think?” Kay said.

“I think we should go out the back.” he whispered.

“You think they’re…?” Eddie trailed off, staring at them, and then suddenly diverting his gaze to his own lap. “Shit. Shit, I think they saw me.”

“Fuck.” Kay muttered. Then she stood up, slamming a stack of bills on the table. “We’re going out the back _now_ , and we are gonna find the Headquarters before those two can report back, assuming they’re Firestarters.”

“Where’s the-”

Mike glanced over his shoulder, and froze. The two were now staring at them, and slowly, the woman stood up. “They’re coming over.” he muttered.

“Abandon all pretense or subtlety, then.” Kay said, and immediately pushed Eddie and Mike forwards, before grabbing the empty table across from them and throwing it, knocking it inbetween them and the adults. As everyone turned, she yelled, at the top of her lungs, “ _Stranger Danger_!” before grabbing both of the boys’ arms and running.


	33. Richie Tozier begins a Jailbreak

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE**

_Richie Tozier begins a Jailbreak_

 

Richie was about to die, he was certain of it.

He was sitting on a bottom bunk in the dorm room- the only spare, he had been told- waiting until everyone else had fallen asleep. Henry was tossing a sock at Martina to get her to shut the hell up, while Jackson and Jillson kept telling everyone if they didn’t behave they were going to report them to their supervisors, so everyone had to shut up.

Getting past those two wouldn’t be his biggest problem, but it would be his first. Once he got out the door, he’d go down to the new recruits’ rooms, unlock the doors, and get them out the window.

And he had to do all of that without getting caught.

L and T had agreed to let him to stay; he’d stolen Kay’s excuse for getting into Volunteer Headquarters, saying that he wanted to help ease them into their new life. Their new mission. He wanted to help them start their first fire. They’d trust him. They’d listen to him.

They were all drugged up, shouldn’t wake for a while. That wouldn’t be a problem; Richie had smuggled a bottle of… come to think of it, he didn’t know what it was, he just remembered seeing L use it to wake a kid who tried to escape, and one time his teachers brought in a new recruit and woke him up with the same bottle. They just moved it under the kids’ noses and they shot up. But while L and T were distracted in the kitchen by Patrick knocking over the salt, he’d spotted the bottle and shoved it into his boot, hoping nobody could hear it knock against his shoe as he walked, hoping nobody saw anything. If someone knew what he was doing… well, he’d be dead.

After a second, Jackson and Jillson turned Lights Out.

Richie sat in the bunk bed and stared at the roof and waited.

He waited until Henry was snoring, until Martina stopped humming, until the older apprentices' patrols slowed. That was when he stood up, in his socks, his shoes tied around his neck so he could put them on when he didn’t need to care about being quiet, and went to the door.

It was easy to pick a lock, it was quick to pick a lock. Which was good, cause he’d have to do it a lot.

He got out and shut the door, hoping Jackson’s next patrol wouldn’t reveal the door had been open, and he wouldn’t look behind him and see that the visiting apprentice was gone. Because then the alarms would sound, and he’d be caught, and he’d be… he’d be turned over to his Chaperones. And he couldn’t… well, he couldn’t get caught.

He stayed close to the wall, hoping to avoid creaking floorboards. If he heard someone nearby, he pressed himself against the wall and shut his eyes and begged for them to not turn the corner, to not notice him, to not catch him, _please_ leave him alone.

He made it to the stairwell and didn’t even bother taking the stairs, just shouldering his bag and sliding down the railing, trying to go as fast as he possibly could. They’d be about two floors down, he just needed to find them…

He opened the door to the floor and didn’t even bother looking behind him, he just ran towards where he thought the rooms might be. He slid down a dimly-lit hall and stopped in front of a door with a lock on it- that was his best guess, and he’d have to hurry before a patrol went by, if they still did those at this location; he wasn’t sure, he hadn’t… hadn’t been here in a while.

He used the hairpin he’d stolen from Martina, working as swiftly as he could. He finally got the door open, and ran in and shut it, turning around and flipping on his lighter so he could see.

_Please let this be it, please let…_

_Oh, thank God._

He’d found Stan first, and he ran forwards and sat him up on the bed. He remembered those beds, he’d been the “new recruits” room for a while after the Firestarters took him, he’d kept crying… or maybe he just kept sleeping, the first few months were a blur.

He pulled the bottle out of his bag and waved it under Stan’s nose, wondering if there was a speed he was supposed to go at, or if maybe there was something extra he should’ve grabbed, or if he got the wrong bottle, or…

Stan sat up, gasping, eyes wide. “Thank fuck!” Richie muttered, shoving the bottle into his pocket.

“What’s going on?” Stan asked, turning towards Richie, squinting a bit. “Why’s everything so blurry? Where-”

“Shut up. Shut up, we don’t wanna be heard.” Richie whispered, grabbing Stan by the shoulders to calm him a bit.

“Did they catch us?” Stan whispered, sounding scared.

“They caught you.” Richie replied. “And Bill and Ben. Bev and I managed to fake them out, I convinced them I was still with them-”

“Where are-?”

“Mike and Eddie are waiting for us. Bill, Ben and Bev are still here. We need to get to them and _get out_.”

Stan stared at Richie, and then nodded, leaning down to grab his hand. He tried to stand up, but wobbled a little.

“Give yourself a second.” Richie whispered, blowing out the match. “But not too long. We don’t have all night.”

He moved to the door, listening for footsteps. When he heard none, he opened the door and dragged Stan into the hall with him, looking for the next locked door. They had to go two halls down to find one, and as Richie bent to pick the lock, Stan whispered, “Don’t they have guards?”

“They have patrols on occasion. Standing outside one door for hours on end is boring.”

“Doesn’t sound very safe.”

“They don’t expect their apprentices to turn on them. Most of us would never want to, we… it’s better than the other side for some of us. I remember this older girl, Heather… Heather something, God, there were like five of them… she used to say…”

The door unlocked, and Richie rushed in, flipping on his lighter again.  

“Ben!” Stan whispered, running forwards upon seeing his friend’s unconscious body.

“Lift him up.” Richie instructed, tossing the bottle to Stan; he’d probably do better than him with it, anyway. “Then get him to smell this. I’ll watch the door.”

“Are these smelling salts? Where did you-” Stan began.

“Just wake him!” Richie ran to star out the door until he heard Ben wake up, sounding a bit more drowsy than Stan. “What’s going on…? Where…?”

“Don’t freak out,” Stan said, sounding very freaked out. “But we’re in Firestarter Headquarters, and we need to break Bill and Bev out and then run for our fucking lives.”

“Help Ben walk.” Richie said, glancing over his shoulder, surprising Ben with just how serious he looked. “He might not recover from whatever knockout drugs they used on him as quickly as you did. Hurry it up; the longer we wait, the more we’re in danger.”

“Shit, okay.” Ben muttered as Stan helped him up. When they started walking closer, Richie opened the door and ushered them out.

And just as they walked down the hall, they heard a crash and a yell.

“Fuck.” Richie said, immediately before saying, “Run.”

“Wait, no!” Stan held out a hand to stop him from turning. “That could be Bev or Bill!”

“Yeah, and there are Firestarters with them!”

“So we should help!”

“If we get caught, we’re done!” Richie said. “I’ll be… I won’t be able to help you.”

“We can’t just-”

“We can find the other one and then go back.” Richie said. “They should both be on this floor, they like to keep new recruits in the same place. Now, we have to _run_ , before they find us.”

“But-”

“Richie, please-” Ben began, still sounding a bit drowsy.

“We _will_ get them, I swear.” Richie said, pushing them a bit farther down the hall. “But if we get caught, we will _fucking die._ Just… please, please run with me for now.”

Stan and Ben stared at him for a second, and then nodded and ran.

 

They found a locked door a few hallways down.

“This is probably it.” Richie said, kneeling down to pick the lock again.

“You want me to do that?” Stan offered, glancing towards Ben, who was looking a bit more awake and a lot more nervous.

“No, I can- shit.” Richie fumbled slightly. “I can handle it. You guys just make sure nobody comes near, and then wake up Bill or Bev or whoever’s here. Ben, go look out the window.” Richie said quickly. “See if you can spot any cars. I wanna know if Kay’s gonna pick us up or if we’re going into town.”

Ben went over to the closest window- locked shut, of course- and said, “Uh, there’s about five black cars parked outside? Not seeing anything else.”

“If we have to steal a car and drive into town, we can.” Richie said. “If they don’t show up in three days, we’re on our own.”

“You can drive?” Ben asked.

“Yeah.” Stan and Richie both said, as Richie finally got the lock undone.

Before he could push open the door, though, they heard more yelling, a lot closer.

“Fuck.” Stan said, moving to grab Ben and push him behind them.

“Get in the room!” Richie said.

“What?” Stan asked.

“There could be people on the other end of the hall,” Richie explained, “But they’ll probably think the room is safe and locked and won’t check. Come on, hurry!”

Stan and Ben glanced at each other, and then the three boys raced into the room, shutting the door behind them.

Ben was the first one to turn to see who they were in with.

“Bev?”

Richie turned, seeing the girl slumped against a bed, and said, “Oh, fuck.”

That meant the other one was…

“Bill’s so fucking dead.” Richie muttered.

 

Bill’s head hurt like hell.

He flicked open his eyes, seeing only darkness. By the time his eyes adjusted enough to see the sidetable, he started to recollect what was happening. At first, he felt incredibly disoriented, wondering why his room looked so different, why his head hurt, didn’t he and Georgie leave boats on the floor? But by the time he remembered what was happening, he was feeling more and more pissed, and he finally sat up, ignoring the pounding in his head.

_Fuck this._

He stood up, running to his door and kicking it. “ _Fuck this!_ ” he screamed.

He’d been running in the woods with Ben, running to distract the chaperones from Richie and Stan. He kept pushing Ben in front of him, making sure he’d be the one caught if the adults found them, making sure Ben had a chance…

But the adults caught up too fast, and held him back while they knocked him out again, and… and Ben had got caught, too, and _goddamnit_ , he couldn’t be here. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be in a VFD base, he couldn’t be with a bunch of arsonists, he couldn’t have gotten his friend captured…

He put his ear against the door, still pounding on it with one hand and occasionally yelling, “Hey! Hey, a-assholes! Hey!”

When he finally heard people approaching, talking in hushed tones, he glanced behind him, straining to see in the dim light. A bed and a sidetable. That was all he had. No weapons.

Guess he’d have to run, then.

The door opened, and he didn’t even give them a chance to talk, instead waiting until it was open enough before bursting through, surprising the adult enough to be able to push them aside, temporarily causing them to lose their balance. He didn’t stop to look behind him, didn’t stop to see what had happened, even when he heard a crash; the man must’ve fallen into something. But he didn’t stop.

He just ran.


	34. Bill Denbrough sets a Building on Fire

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR**

_Bill Denbrough sets a Building on Fire_

 

“Come on, Bev, wake up…” Ben muttered as Stan shoved the bottle under her nose.

“Does this mean Bill’s alone?” Stan asked, glancing up at Richie. “He’s not trained, he’ll-”

“We’ll get him. We’ll get him out.” Richie said unconvincingly. “Bev, come on-”

Bev opened her eyes and immediately sat up, turning to Richie sharply. “What’s going- _fuck,_ my head…”

“That’ll pass.” Richie said. “Your headache should-”

“Oh, thank God, I thought that was just me.” Ben sighed.

Bev glanced around the room. “You got everyone?... wait, no, where’s Bill?”

“We happened to find you first.” Richie said, and then he smiled slightly and slipped into a British Accent. “We also think Bill may be causing a bit of a ruckus. Help an old chap out and find him before he gets himself murdered?” He sighed, then. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“No, you’re fine. We could use some levity.” Bev slowly stood up, shaking slightly, before glancing at the bottle in Stan’s hand. She took it from him, looking at it. “Are these smelling salts?”

“Probably?” Richie said.

“Did you… did you shove these under my nose without knowing what they were?”

“I’ve seen them work before.” Richie said defensively.

“Alright…” Bev said, putting a hand on her head and shutting her eyes. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

“We find Bill and climb out a window.” Richie said. “Or, well, that was the plan until he caused some kinda issue, maybe. There’ll be adults all around, we’ll have to be very, very careful. If Kay’s not outside, I’ll drive us while the rest of you try not to vomit.”

“Is that possible?” Stan asked nervously.

“Maybe. I dunno, I haven’t been knocked out since I was ten and being too loud in class.” Richie shrugged, not wanting to think on the memory too much. “Mighta just been sick. Anywho, Bev, Stan, make sure Ben doesn’t get too loud.”

“I’m not-”

“I don’t care how good you think you are at sneaking around.” Richie snapped, causing them all to jump. “Everyone in this building is better. This is what we’ve been trained to do all our lives.”

“Rich-” Bev began.

“And I don’t want to hear you or Stan argue with me, either.” Richie said quickly and a bit sternly. “We’re not in Derry anymore- hell, we’re not in a Volunteer town at all. We’re on my turf now, and I’m the only one who can get you the hell out of here, and I’m the one who’s getting the short end of the stick if we get caught. Even if they don’t… they’ll still send me somewhere where I can’t talk to you until the brainwashing’s done. So shut the fuck up and follow me, and once we find Bill, we get the fuck out of here and never look back. Got it?”

Hesitantly, they all nodded.

“Now shut up, watch Ben, and follow me. We’ll try to follow the noise best we can but we cannot get caught. We need to find Bill and get out. If all else fails, I’m sending you out alone to wait for me to get Bill. Okay? Okay.”

Richie moved to the door, pressed against it, waiting just in case someone was moving through the hall. He hesitantly opened the door, and then gestured for his friends to follow him. As they raced out, he listened intently for distant sounds; he could hear adults yelling at each other a few halls down, which probably meant they hadn’t found Bill yet; that was good.

He gestured for the others to follow him, and then he picked a hall and ran.

 

Bill hid in a room for a bit, waiting until he couldn’t hear any footsteps. He was in a room that seemed to be some kind of classroom; there were four tables with multiple chairs, all facing a wall with a chalkboard. He didn’t see any books or pencils, but there seemed to be several boxes lining the walls; if he wasn’t in such a pressing situation, he’d probably search through them just to see what was there.

He glanced towards the windows, wondering if he could risk climbing out… no. Not while Ben was still here, or Stan and Richie if they hadn’t managed to get away. Him and Eddie learned how to pick a lock when they were younger, but he didn’t have any materials… maybe he could wait until some arsonists got them out of their rooms or wherever and he could jump them. He’d need a weapon… maybe he should go through those boxes. Or…

He ran to what looked like a closet, pulling open the doors and scanning the inside. It seemed mostly empty, with a few folders shoved into the top shelf, a few boxes of matches lining the lower shelf, and a cardboard box at the bottom. Bill grabbed the box, digging through it; it seemed to just be a bunch of different clothes. Nothing useful. Though, after a second, he did grab a coat, just in case. Then he grabbed two boxes of matches, too; they wouldn’t be a _great_ weapon, but it’d be better than nothing. Maybe he could set something on fire as a distraction.

He went back to the door and took a deep breath before pulling it open, peering through. There was nobody in the hall, so he took his chances and ran.

He stopped at every corner, listening for footsteps, wondering where to run. He wondered if Ben was anywhere nearby, or if he was somewhere far away in the building, or if they’d already been separated, or if Stan and Richie had been… _fuck,_ the Firestarters had probably been going for the Headquarters, what if Eddie and Mike and Bev were…

_Don’t think, Bill. Just keep moving. Find Ben, figure out what you’re going to do later._

Where were they exactly? What if Kay couldn’t find them, or had been captured herself? How were he and Ben and maybe the other kids supposed to make it on their own- they had no food, no clothes, no money… what would he do if he couldn’t find some of his friends? What if…

_Stop thinking! Stop it! Get Ben out and figure it out later!_

That’s when he heard the yelling.

“Open this door! Fucking hell, open the-”

_Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

It was only a few halls down, and Bill felt like he knew who was being yelled at.

 

Richie peered around the corner, and then waved for the others, and they all ran down the bend. Bev stayed in the back of the group, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. Stan kept one hand around Ben’s arm, glancing around nervously, while Ben just looked very, very anxious. He kept glancing towards Richie, as if wanting to ask something, trying to decide if the noise would be too much of a risk. Which it was, of course it was. They couldn’t be discovered; though, hell, it was only a matter of time before someone realized they weren’t in their rooms.

The group moved down several halls, to the point where Richie wondered if maybe they’d gotten lost or started going in circles. Ben was quick at memorizing architecture, maybe he could ask… no, no, don’t talk. Shut up and keep going.

Finally, Richie heard more footsteps- more than one person, from the sound of it, and the steps were heavy, so definitely not Bill. Richie threw open a door, pushing everyone inside. He quickly shut the door behind them, panic filling him.

He shut it too quickly.

He knew, as soon as he heard the slam, that he’d fucked up.

The kids all froze for an instant, and then Richie hit the lock as fast as he could, whipping around and saying, “Alright, Stan, get Ben out the window. Bev, grab a weapon; you’ll go down after them, but they can open doors quite quickly.”

Bev nodded, looking around the room, which Richie recognized instantly as a classroom; God, how long had he spent in here, throwing costumes around or setting different things aflame? How many times had he been in combat class, or tossing notes to kids in the back row? How many of those kids were out there starting fires now?

The door pounded, and they heard very angry voices on the other side. Stan ran to the windows, saying quickly, “There’s no way to open it!”

“Of course not, we’re not very partial to another recruitment, thank you.” Richie retorted, as he and Bev ran to the teachers’ desk, and he opened a drawer to find a row of daggers.

“Shit.” Bev muttered, grabbing one. “Your teachers had these?”

“In case of attack or annoying student.” Richie shrugged. “Didn’t yours?”

“I mean, I can’t say they _didn’t_ ,” Bev shrugged, “But I never thought-”

“How am I supposed to get out of the window?” Stan asked.

“Smash it, idiot.”

“Oh, yeah. Tell everyone where we are.”

“They already know where we are!”

“And what about the glass shards? We’ll get cut!”

“Would you rather be kidnapped by arsonists?”

“Don’t fight!” Ben yelled, turning to Richie. “What about you?”

“Bev and I will fight our way out and then find Bill.” Richie said. “Or, preferably, I’ll send Bev down with you and go alone.”

“Not gonna happen, Tozier.”

“But-” Ben began.

The door suddenly burst open, the lock breaking. The kids all looked up at the two arsonists on the other side, who scanned the room, shocked.

The first one to move was Stan, who ran to Ben and pushed him behind him, his eyes falling on a chair, looking prepared at the slightest provocation to grab it and throw it through a window. Richie grabbed a dagger, managing to get in front of Bev before he stopped to look at the arsonists. He froze for a moment, recognizing the faces quickly; shit, he actually liked these people. Fuck.

“Tozier?” asked the one- T? Maybe? She used to teach the theater classes. “What are you _doing_?”

Richie paused, and then yelled, “Stan, get out! Now!”

Stan raced to the chair, lifting it.

“Tozier, what-” said the other.

That was when Bill raced down the hall and tackled one of the arsonists, yelling, “ _Hey_!”

“Bill, goddamnit!” Bev yelled, immediately rushing past a stunned Richie to help him.

There was a crash behind them as Stan got the chair through the window, but he and Ben didn’t climb through, instead turning to stare in fear as one of the Arsonists managed to get a hold of Bill, pinning his arms behind him as he kicked and yelled. Bev jumped on the other, tackling him, and finally Richie ran forwards to help.

“What do we do?” Ben asked, turning to Stan.

Stan paused for a second, before shrugging and saying, “Dogpile.”

Ben nodded seriously, and they raced forwards, with Stan attacking the one who held Bill and Ben joined Bev and Richie.

The second their arsonist lost balance and fell, though, Richie just looked to Ben, panic in his eyes, and yelled, “ _Down the hall! Go, go, go!_ ”

“But we-”

“ _Go!_ ”

After a second, Bev leapt up and grabbed Ben’s hand, dragging him off, and he turned to see Richie leap over the arsonist and grab Bill’s arm, pulling him behind him as they ran, Stan following close behind.

“They’ll have reinforcements coming!” Richie yelled, pushing Bill in front of him. “Big Bill, where ya been?”

“Running like h-hell.” Bill answered. “I heard sh-shouts and your name and decided it was b-b-best to fight, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess that was a good idea.” Richie said. “Bev’s a badass, kinda, but I don’t know if we could’ve taken them, especially since more of them are coming-”

“Hey, why are we running away from the open window?” Stan asked as they turned a bend.

“Because some adults were there,” Richie said quickly, “And also now we’re in the opposite direction of where everyone will run!”

“Are you just making this up as you go along?” Bev asked.

“Absolutely. Turn right here.”

They followed his instructions, and Richie quickly shepherded them into another empty room- this one almost completely empty, two chests shoved in a corner and three chairs leaning against a wall.

“What’s in-” Ben began.

“Costumes. Won’t be useful.” Richie said, running to lock the door. “Stan, smash another fucking window, we’re climbing out.”

As Stan ran to grab a chair, Bill ran, too, towards the chests. He opened one, pouring the clothes onto the floor.

“Damn it, Bill, I just said there’s nothing in there!”

“Sh-shut up, Richie.” Bill said, dumping the other chest. He had a determined look in his eyes, one Richie wasn’t sure he liked.

“Okay, I’ll take Ben.” Bev said, as Stan smashed the window. “Stan, Rich, you make sure Bill doesn’t die.” She glanced out the window. “Do you think- _fuck, fuck, there they are!_ ”

“Who?” Stan asked, peering out.

“Kay! A car just drove up.”

“Could be more Firestarters.”

“Be optimistic, Uris.”

“Can’t afford to take a chance, Marsh.”

“Whatever, everyone ready?” Bev asked, glancing back at everyone.

“Not yet.” Bill said, kicking the clothes around.

“Billiam, for fuck’s sake, there’s nothing there.”

“It doesn’t matter what’s in here.” Bill said darkly, before looking up at Richie. “These Firestarters, they’ll k-k-kill you, right?”

Richie flinched. “They… well, not… I mean, my Chaperones are…”

“And they’ll kidnap us, right?”

“Bill,” Bev asked carefully, grabbing Ben’s hand, “What are you doing?”

Bill glanced at her, and then looked to Richie, and said, “How fast would these clothes b-burn?”

“No!” Bev and Stan both said instantly.

Richie, however, stared at Bill sadly, before saying, “Pretty fast. Might be a good distraction, but won’t catch anything else, I don’t think, especially since the building’s probably been built not to burn that easily, we set a lot of fires-”

“Then c-can we set the gr-ground around it on fire? That m-might catch some of it.”

“Bill, not everyone here is-”

“Th-they’ll have a wa-way out, won’t they?” Bill asked. “They’ll have a pl-plan?”

“Well, yeah, of course-”

“Then they’ll g-get out.” Bill glared. “But I want to send a message. I want them to leave us _alone_.”

“Bill, this-” Bev began.

“Come _on_!” Bill turned to stare at her. “You want to just leave this building here? You think they won’t go after us?”

“They’ll go after us if we _burn their building_!”

“We might as well let them know we’re not going to go quietly.” Bill said, glaring at her. “Might as well take down one of their headquarters while we’re here.”

“Bill-”

“Do it.” Richie said, startling them. “Bill, set that shit on fire.”

“Richie-” Bev began.

“Light it up.” Richie said, and they heard a pounding on the door. They jumped, turning to look that way. Then, Richie repeated, “Light it up, and everyone get out _now_.”

They didn’t have time to argue, but Bev still shot the two boys a worried look as she grabbed Ben’s arm and held him out the window. They waited a second, and then Bill pulled a match out of his pocket, lighting it against the wall and throwing it onto the pile of clothes.

“Go, go, go!” Richie called, running and dragging Bill away from the fire and towards the window. “Stan, help me with him, we’re going down as fast as we can.”

“Bill, hold onto us,” Stan said, eying the burning clothes worryingly. “And don’t let go.”


	35. The Losers Club jumps out of a Car

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE**

_The Losers Club jumps out of a Car_

 

“We’re so fucked.” Eddie muttered.

Kay kept glancing behind her. “We should’ve stolen a different car. This doesn’t match at all.” she muttered.

“Does that _really_ matter?” Mike asked.

“Yeah. If Richie hasn’t gotten them out, we’ll get spotted in ten seconds and caught.” Kay said.

“Just run over anyone who comes near us.” Eddie suggested.

“Please don’t.” Mike said.

“Wait. Hold on.” Kay said, gesturing towards a side of the building. “Someone’s coming down the side.”

“What the _fuck_?” Eddie asked, as soon as he noticed.

Kay and Mike barely reacted, only leaning forwards a bit to try and see if they could spot who it was. “It’s too small to be an adult, so that’s a good sign.” Kay muttered.

“There are two.” Mike said. “And it looks like one’s helping the other, so it’s probably them. I can’t think of any apprentices who wouldn’t be able to scale a building.”

“You can _scale_ a _building_?” Eddie asked.

“Course.” Mike said, while Kay said, “Yeah.”

“Wait, there’s more of them.” Kay said, peering up. “Coming down- I’d say two? Maybe three.”

“Should we go out to meet them?”

Kay considered. “Someone should stay with the car.”

“I’ll go.” Eddie said quickly.

“With that arm? You’ll get kidnapped in two seconds flat.” Kay said.

“I’ll go with him.” Mike said. “We get spotted, we’ll just come back to the car. We just wanna make sure our friends are safe.”

“I want them to be safe, too.” Kay said, and then after a second, she sighed. “Alright, but if you’re not back in five minutes and I lose sight of you, I’m leaving without you.”

Mike and Eddie nodded, and Mike ran to get the door for him.

 

“Bev! Ben!”

Bev whipped around the second she hit the ground, eyes wide, ready for an attack, only to relax considerably when Mike and Eddie ran up. Ben grinned as Eddie almost barrelled into him for a hug, while Mike ran to Bev. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Not especially, but my head doesn’t feel great. Probably the chloroform.”

“Don’t ever _fucking_ do that again!” Eddie said, glaring at her. “What would’ve happened if they’d killed you?”

“They wouldn’t have.” Bev said unconvincingly.

“Where are-” Mike began, and Bev and Ben both gestured up.

Mike and Eddie glanced up, and did notice that, pretty close to the ground, Richie and Stan were climbing down and doing their best to make sure Bill didn’t fall and die. They waited a moment, and once the three of them made it to the ground, Mike said, “Are you being followed?”

Richie jumped upon hearing him, and said, “Probably.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll t-take care of it.” Bill said. He turned to Richie. “Where should I-”

Richie gestured towards the corner of the building. “What’re you-” Eddie began.

“He’s gonna set it on fire, like a fucking moron.” Bev said.

“He’s _what_?” Mike asked, horrified, as Richie and Bill shared a look.

After a second, though, Eddie said, “I dunno, think I’m with him. Place needs to go.”

“But he can’t just _burn it._ ” Mike said. “That’s what _they_ do.”

“Means they’re fighting fire with fire.” Eddie said.

“We need to send a message!” Bill said, glaring at Bev. “I told you, and _you_ , Stan-”

“I don’t wanna be a part of this.” Stan muttered quickly.

“-if they think we’re helpless, they’ll keep coming after us.” Bill continued. “They’ll keep trying to drag us back to their cult. We’re not going to take this lying down. I want to fight them- both sides, not one or the other. Please.”

The kids all stared at Bill, and then Richie said, “I’ve got more matches, if you need em.”

“I’m in.” Eddie said solemnly.

“I’m in, too.” Ben said quietly. “I don’t want them to try and take us again.”

Then Stan said. “Fuck it, sure. Why not?”

Mike hesitantly glanced to Richie. “Are you sure they’ll be able to get out of the building?”

“That’s what they’re trained for.” Richie said.

Mike sighed. “Okay. But we’re getting out of here _immediately_ after _._ ”

They turned to Bev, who had her eyes shut, clearly thinking. “Bev?” Bill finally asked.

She sighed. “Light it up.”

All seven of them looked at each other, and then Bill pulled the stolen box of matches from his pocket. He pulled one out and followed Richie’s directions to the side of the building. He struck the match against the wall and dropped it, then pulled out another one. Before he could repeat his movement, Richie walked beside him and took it, lighting and dropping it himself.

Ben caught what he was doing and came next to grab a match from Bill. Then Eddie, though he had trouble lighting it with one hand and Richie had to help him a bit. Mike and Bev came last, and Mike had to glance away as he dropped his. Once Bev had dropped hers, they all watched the flames start to rise around the building’s base for a moment, stepping back.

“Does this make us Firestarters?” Mike asked.

“Sure as hell doesn’t make us Volunteers.” Ben said.

After another moment, Eddie said, “We better get back to the car. Kay said she’s leaving without us if we take any longer.”

“She was bluffing,” Bev told him. “She’d come in for us, cause that’s what Kay does.”

Still, they turned and ran away from the fire, running towards the car. Bill glanced over his shoulder to watch for a second, stopping for just an instant, before Ben tugged his arm and pulled him along.

 

“Everyone in?” Kay asked as the seven piled into the back.

“Yeah, and we set the place on fire, so we better hurry.” Richie said.

“Nobody’s hurt?” Kay asked, choosing to ignore that last part for a moment.

“Just a bit of a headache here.” Bev said. “Anyone else?”

They shook their heads, and Kay said, “Alright, team, we’re- _fuck_!”

“What?” Ben asked, panicked, as Kay suddenly stepped on the gas. They all jumped as the bags they’d managed to retrieve slid around the floor, the car taking off down the road.

“Someone came out of the building, they definitely saw us.” Kay glanced out the window. “They’ll be able to follow us. Shit, we shoulda slashed their tires or something.”

“Then they wouldn’t have been able to escape the fire.” Mike said.

“Oh, they’d be fine, they’d just have to walk to town instead of drive.” Kay waved a hand.

“Both hands on wheel.” Bev said quickly.

“I’ll drive how I want.” Kay said.

“Are we being f-f-followed?” Bill asked, standing up to try and see out the front window. Unfortunately, that’s when Kay took a turn, and he fell down.

“Uuh, gimme a sec.” Kay rolled down the window and stuck her head out. She put it back in quickly. “Yes. Two cars.”

“Fuck!” Richie yelled.

“We’re fucking dead!” Stan added.

“No! We are not gonna die!” Kay said. “Bev, do you have weapons back there?”

“No, I didn’t put any in the emergency bag for some ungodly reason.” Bev said.

“That’s okay. We’ll just have to outlast them.” Kay said.

“Take the road into town,” Richie suggested, “And lose them in a crowd.”

“Too late, already took the turn outta town, sorry.” Kay said.

“Okay, so, we’re screwed?”

“No, Tozier, we’re not screwed.”

“Yeah, we are. They’re not gonna tire out before we do.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know _them_.”

Kay glanced back at the kids, and took another turn. Then, after a second, she said, “I have a plan, but you’re not gonna like it.”

“Then why are you telling us?” Eddie asked.

“Because it’s the only plan that’ll work.” Kay said. “At least that I can think of.”

“Say it and we’ll think of a better one.” Mike said.

Kay hesitated. “I’m gonna need you to jump out of the car?”

“No!” Bev said, while everyone else said varieties of, “What?”

“They’ll follow my car, and if I can’t lose them, I’ll be able to slip away much faster than would be if I had to watch out for all seven of you.” Kay said. “And if I take a turn, you’ll have a good few seconds to disappear into plants or trees before the cars chasing us can see you.”

“We’re not leaving you!” Bev said.

“Beverly, darling, I’ve gotta keep you safe.” Kay said, glancing back sadly. “And if that means we’ve gotta split up, that’s what we’ll do.”

“One of us should st-stay with you.” Bill said.

“Absolutely not. I’m not risking the lives of any of you.” Kay said. “If they catch up to this car, you’re all in danger, unless you’re not here. Listen, there’s some money in an envelope behind my seat. Buy a bus ticket or something. Try and get to the Mortmain Mountains, there’s a VFD Headquarters there- you know it?”

“Been there.” Stan said, as Ben got the envelope.

“We have people stationed there, too.” Kay said. “Find one of them- if you see someone you think is one of us, ask them how loud it is where they are; the correct response is _Louder than back home._ Got it?”

“Louder than back home.” they all repeated.

“Ask them to take you to E; she’ll have found me by then, hopefully, and she can position us somewhere.”

“The Headquarters at Mortmain,” Mike said, “Don’t they have files on apprentices?”

Bill perked up, and Kay quickly said, “Don’t you dare go in there. We can’t allow you to get caught. E will find Georgie, Bill, don’t take matters into your own hands.”

Bill looked very much like he wanted to take matters into his own hands.

“Bev, Mike, Stan and Richie can help you identify Volunteers.” Kay said. “Eddie, if I don’t see you til then, keep your arm in that sling or something like it, if your arm’s broken, it should heal in… how long is it for kids? A month?”

“Maybe?” Stan said.

“In adults it’s a few months.” Ben said. “But for kids, I think that sounds right.”

“And whatever you do,” Kay said, very seriously, “Don’t split up. You kids are all you have until you can get to safety. I wish there was a closer place I could send you to, but there aren’t many of us. Just be safe, and stay together. All goes well, I’ll see you in a few weeks. It goes poorly, maybe a few months.”

“Kay…” Bev began.

“You protect them, Beverly.” Kay said, turning to look at her. “And you protect yourself, got that?”

Bev stared at her, tears in her eyes, and then she nodded.

“I’m so proud of you, Bev.” Kay said. She then said, “Grab your bags, and once you hit the ground, run into the trees. Don’t look back, don’t come back, and find your way somewhere safe. I’ll find you as soon as I can.”

“Thank you for everything.” Bill said.

“And don’t you dare lose Bev, got that, boys?” Kay added.

“We’ll watch out for her.” Ben assured her. “And each other.”

“Good. Stay safe.” Kay said.

Then she turned a bend in the road, and shouted, “Go!”

Richie opened the door, and they all leapt out, tumbling onto the ground. Kay drove off, the doors thankfully slamming shut behind them as they left.

Stan got up first, followed by Mike, and they lifted everyone to their feet as fast as they could and pushed them towards the woods.

They ducked into the trees, and grabbed hands, and started running.

Following Kay’s instructions, they didn’t look back.

 

By the time they stopped running, the sky had gotten very fucking dark.

Richie waved for them to stop, and they all slowed to a halt.

“Are we lost?” Ben asked. “Were we supposed to get to town?”

“No. Town’s not safe. They’ll be looking for us there.” Richie said. He sat on the ground, gathering fallen twigs around him. “I was hoping we’d be able to get to the next town before night, but… hey, help me make a fire, kay? It’ll get cold.”

The kids all gathered flammable materials and stuck them in a pile. “It’ll smoke,” Richie said, as he used a match to light it, “But hopefully nobody’ll be looking for us out here. It’ll put itself out eventually, too, so by the time we wake up we’ll be able to just keep going.”

They sat in a circle around the fire, silent for a moment. Then, Ben said, “Do you think Kay’s alright?”

“She received Volunteer training, she’ll be fine.” Mike said. “Worry about us. We’re all lost out here, being actively hunted by a… an organization, we… we just…” he shut his eyes. “Fuck, why did we set the place on fire? What if they couldn’t get out? There were other kids there, weren’t there, Rich?”

“They’ll be fine. They’re trained on how to get out of burning buildings, seeing as they’re usually the ones burning them.”

“But… we shouldn’t have…”

“We got rid of one Arsonist base.” Bill said stiffly. “One more outta the way. And now they know we mean b-business.”

“Or the Volunteers think we’re Firestarters.” Stan said.

“That could be good.” Eddie said. “They’ll go looking for us in all the wrong places.”

“Why would Firestarters burn their own base?” Mike reminded them.

“Volunteers can be Very Fucking Dumb sometimes,” Richie said, “Trust me. They used to stick their insignia on the fucking walls of their Headquarters.”

“Funny how an organization focused on knowledge can be so stupid.” Stan laughed slightly.

“Bev?” Ben asked carefully, and everyone glanced at the girl, “Are you okay?”

Bev was curled up, staring at the flames. Then, quietly, she said, “No. I’m not.”

“That’s okay.” Mike said. “You-”

“Kay is gone.” Bev said. “We’re on our own in the middle of the woods. VFD is… I gave my _life_ to them. I would’ve died for them. For their secrets. I fully believed… I still don’t…” She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

“Bev…” Richie began.

“I never told anyone.” Bev said, almost whispering. “Never. I never tell anyone anything when it’s important. I was eight. I was eight years old and my Dad was… my Mom had died and he… he…” she shut her eyes, clenching her fists. “I wanted to disappear so bad. And they helped. Dragged me out, gave me stuff to do. I wasn’t just free, I was doing something important. Helping the world. And I bought into all of it, just cause they’d saved me.”

“Bev-” Bill started.

“He found me. I was ten.” Bev said. “I don’t know how, he was probably just in town and spotted me. He… he was drunk again, he somehow found out where A and I were staying… she was out, she was doing something, and he… he…”

She was crying now, and none of them knew what to say.

“I got to the bathroom and he wouldn’t stop chasing me. I knew he was gonna try to bring me home and…” Bev shut her eyes tight. “I got to the bathroom and I grabbed the toilet lid and I hit him with it. And I kept hitting him, I just _kept hitting him_! Until he stopped moving, until I stopped yelling, and then I saw the blood and I dropped the lid and I just _cried_ cause I didn’t know what I’d just done and A came home and she didn’t even… she didn’t even flinch she just sat me down somewhere and covered it all up and no one ever… no one arrested me, cause A managed to take care of it, but… but _fucking hell_ , I killed my Dad. I killed my fucking Dad and… and I don’t think anyone ever asked me _why_. Or… or asked me what was going on, or how I was…”

She curled up and sobbed, then, and in only a few seconds, Ben moved over and threw his arms around her. Richie jumped up and ran over next, and then Bill and Mike and Eddie and Stan, and soon they were all hugging and crying. They were all confused, and lost, and frightened, and completely unsure of wherever they were supposed to go, what they were supposed to do, who they were supposed to be. Kay was gone. They weren’t sure who E was. None of their families could be trusted, their Chaperones had surely figured out they had left by now. They couldn’t trust anyone.

Anyone but each other.

“It’s okay, Bev.” Ben said quietly, through his own tears. “We’re here if you need us.”

“We’re here.” Bev repeated, in almost a whisper, as if she couldn’t believe they were.

“We’re here, and we’re free.” Bill said. “And we’re gonna stay together, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Eddie said. “We’re all we’ve got now.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Stan said. “We already feel like shit.”

“We’re not shit, we’re just a…” Mike trailed off, looking for the words.

“A bunch of Losers.” Richie said.

“Thanks for that.” Bev smiled slightly. They all pulled away slightly, and Bev wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

They looked around at each other, barely illuminated by the fire. They were still tired, still lost, still scared. But they did indeed have each other.

Bev smiled slightly. “We’re a fine old Losers Club, aren’t we?”


	36. The Losers trek for a Bit

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX**

_The Losers trek for a Bit_

 

Bill stopped counting the days about two weeks in.

They walked through the woods, and managed to get to a town by the time they ran out of food. They only had enough money for either food or bus tickets, so they bought enough food for a week and used the small amount of extra cash for new shoes- Ben and Stan had fallen into a thornbush and might’ve ripped their own, and none of them had extras on hand.

They kept walking after that, and in every town, they kept an eye out. For the Eye, for suspicious Firetrucks, for people dressed in certain clothes who didn’t take sugar in their tea. On their walks from town-to-town, the Losers who had been in VFD tried to relegate the warning signs.

“Lots of book references, though that’s not always a giveaway.” Mike said. “Codephrases are ‘I didn’t realize this was a sad occasion’ and ‘the world is quiet here.’”

“Words like ‘associates’ and ‘volunteers’ should ring a few warning bells, just in case.” Stan picked up. “And specialized interests that would be very useful for spywork.”

“Commonplace books.” Richie added. “That’s for Volunteers. Firestarters’ll have matches and lighters on them at all times.”

“Which reminds me,” Bill interrupted, checking his pocket, “We’re almost out of matches.”

“I have a lighter, we can start campfires with that.” Richie said. “Though I would suggest in the next town we steal a tent or something so we don’t have to sleep in the dirt.”

Two towns over, they did indeed get desperate one rainy night and climb into a camping store through a window, grabbing a tent and a canvas, before running back into the forest. Eddie managed to swipe a map a town before, too, so they had a route on getting to the Mortmain Mountains.

“I’m not gonna lie,” Eddie said, as he and Mike spread the map out, “It’s not a short trip. Unless we get on a bus or train, it could take over a month, maybe two if we’re extremely unfortunate. And that’s not accounting for detours, storms…”

“That’s fine.” Bev said quickly. “It’s not like we have anything else to do.”

“And at least it’s not, like, a year.” Richie said. “Hell, Eddie, your arm should heal by the time we get there.”

“We can br-break into Headquarters all t-together.” Bill said, laughing slightly.

“Um,” Bev side-eyed him. “I think Kay specifically told us not to break into Headquarters.”

“She literally s-sent us on our w-way to a town with a H-Headquarters and expected us not to go in?” Bill asked.

“It wouldn’t be very safe.” Stan said, though he had a bit of a sarcastic edge to his tone.

“Neither is b-being on the r-r-run in the w-woods.” Bill shrugged. When they still were quiet, he said, “Guys. We could f-find where they put Ge-Georgie. We’re already l-leaving him on his own for m-maybe two months. We ne-need to find him.”

They still stared at him, until Ben said, “Of course, Bill. We can plan on the road, yeah?”

“Pl-plan on the road.” Bill repeated.

“God, we’re gonna add ‘heist’ to the list of shit we’re planning on doing.” Eddie said, rolling up the map.

“Betcha didn’t think you’d be doing this with your life, did you?” Richie teased. “Thought you’d just live in a padded room to avoid germs, right?”

“Yeah, well, fuck that.” Eddie shrugged. “This is more exciting, isn’t it?”

“Who are you and what’ve you done with Eddie Kaspbrak?” Stan joked.

“Maybe we should all change our names.” Mike suggested. “At least have fake names for when someone asks.”

“Fake names?” Richie perked up. “I’ve got tons-”

“No, no. I’m not changing my name just cause I hate my fucking parents.” Eddie said.

“I mean for protection reasons.”

“It’s not like we’re gonna be talking to a lot of people.” Bev shrugged. “We’ll mostly just be going through the woods.”

“Once we’re out of this,” Richie joked, “I bet we’re never gonna wanna go camping again.”

“Jokes on you, I already hated camping.” Ben laughed.

After that, they kept walking. Town to town, forest to forest. They stopped keeping track of how long. But it didn’t really matter.

They only ran into trouble once, when Mike recognized some Volunteers across the street, and they’d had to run down several streets to lose them. Other than that, it was… almost nice. Walking together, chatting, sometimes sharing knowledge. Bev taught Richie and Ben how to use a slingshot, and Stan started reciting bird knowledge to Eddie and Bill, also teaching them to imitate different calls and songs. Mike and Eddie would sometimes disappear for hours at a time, trying to identify different kinds of plants, completely confused when everyone got mad at them for not mentioning where they were going, because _we were right over there, guys, trying to figure out if those berries were poisonous._

And after a while, it stopped being horrible.

“I think I like seeing the st-stars at night.” Bill said, on one night it was warm enough for them to sleep without the tent, staring up in the clearing they’d stationed themselves in. “My parents never let me ca-camp out in the y-yard before, and it’s not the same through a w-window.”

“I like the quiet.” Ben admitted. “Cities are always so loud, and you don’t always notice until you have the silence of the forest.”

“I don’t like the overabundance of animal shit and bugs.” Eddie said, sitting up slightly so he could see over Richie, who’d fallen asleep next to him. “But I like the birds, and the grass. And the river, even though it’s probably full of piss.”

“I like being with you guys.” Bev said. “You’re great.”

“Don’t get sappy on us, B-Bev.” Bill laughed, elbowing her slightly, though they all agreed.

When they first saw the Mortmain Mountains, they couldn’t believe it. Eddie- who’d finally had his sling taken off, while everyone cheered and tossed it into the campfire- and Mike had to check the map again to prove that those were the mountains they wanted.

“The Headquarters should be that way.” Mike said, gesturing towards the right. “Then there’s a town about a mile away.”

They all looked to each other, wondering if they were really going to do this.

Then, Bill said, “Let’s b-break in.”

 

They did not get the chance to break in.

All they found were charred remains of what used to be a building.

When they moved out of the trees and saw the ashes, they stared for a moment, stunned and horrified.

Then, Bill said, “Are you _f-f-fucking kidding me?”_

“Maybe this is... maybe that was a bad plan.” Mike said.

“Yeah, maybe we just… weren’t supposed to break in.” Ben said.

Richie moved closer to the ruins, sitting beside it and inspecting. He turned back, saying, “These have been here a few weeks. It’s not new.”

“We were l-late by s-several weeks.”

“Look, we’ll just get to town and find one of E’s friends.” Bev said quickly, putting a hand on Bill’s shoulder.

“No, no, we were g-g-g-going to-” Bill began.

“Bill…” Eddie said, glancing over his shoulder and paling.

“We were going to f-f-find Georgie and- and now we _can’t_ , and he’s still _o-o-out there_ , and-”

“Guys!” Eddie suddenly, pushing the two nearest to him- Mike and Stan. They turned, and spotted two adults staring at them.

“Run!” Bev yelled, and they took off.

They took off, with Ben only stopping to help Richie stand up before they raced to catch up to the others.

They ran for a bit, and very quickly realized they were right to do so; the adults yelled something and gave chase, and Bill thought he spotted then running after them. He slowly moved to the back of the group, instincts kicking in as he pushed everyone ahead of him; if they caught up, he didn’t want someone else to worry about.

He felt something strange as he managed to push Stan ahead, urging him to move faster; almost like someone had punched him in the side. He didn’t glance down to look, only focusing on getting everyone to keep going. Maybe Stan had just hit him on accident while they were running. He didn’t think the adults were close enough to hit him anyway.

They lost their pursuers pretty soon after that, when they managed to find the road that led into town. Once they reached the buildings, Bev ducked them into an alley and shoved them behind a dumpster. She paused, waiting for the adults to pass by, and then said, “Anyone we recognize?”

“Firestarters. Definitely.” Richie said. “Recognized the blonde guy- real dick.”

“Is everyone okay?” Mike asked. He scanned the group, and then froze when he got to Bill, raising a hand to his mouth. “Oh no.”

“Wha-” Bill began, and then he glanced down.

Huh.

“Bill,” Bev said, as everyone else gasped and stared. “How long have you had that knife in your side?”

Bill stared at the knife, and suddenly, his head felt very light. “Um…” he began.

“Throwing knife.” Ben said.

“Oh, that’d be him, alright.” Richie said. 

“Bill, stay calm.” Eddie said. “I’ll take care of it, just lay on your side, I’ll… I’ll do something.” He turned towards the others. “Find a pharmacy, I’ll give you a list of items we’ll need.” 

“We can-” Stan began.

“We know what to grab for stab wounds.” Richie said quickly, glancing at the others. “That’s Volunteer training, too, right?”

“Yeah.” Bev nodded. They were all very, very tense. “Someone should stay with Eddie.”

“I will.” Mike offered. “We’ll take care of things, you steal the shit we need.”

 

Bev sat at the counter, chatting amiably with the pharmacist, while Ben, Stan and Richie stole shit off the shelves.

They had one bag, which they were throwing the larger things in, and stuffing the smaller into their pockets. They were a few blocks from where they’d left Bill, and it was hard for her to keep a smile on her face as she pretended to be interested in the sunglasses on the rack beside them, digging spare change out of her pockets. What if they took too long? What if they got back and Bill started bleeding out, what if-

“Hey?”

Bev turned, seeing a girl standing behind her, looking a bit nervous. “I’m sorry, my friend and I just want to buy some… uh, girl things, and-”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Bev said. _Shit,_ she was going to have to figure out how to stall two people now. She grabbed a pair of sunglasses off the rack and slid it across the counter, slamming some bills down, too. “I’ll take these, then. It’ll look so cool.”

As the cashier rang that up, the girl said, pushing back a strand of red hair, “I’m sorry, we just don’t like being… well, I’m a bit…”

“It’s no problem.” Bev said, glancing down at the box of pads in the girl’s hands. “I get it. I just, you know…”

She glanced out of the corner of her eye, seeing Richie wave to her from the end of an aisle. Good. She grabbed her sunglasses, and said, “Well, uh, good luck?” That was probably a bad thing to say, but she just had to get out before…

“Hey!” Bev jumped, seeing another girl, having just turned out of another aisle. She was staring at Bev, as if she recognized her.

Bev did not recognize her in turn, but she didn’t like that look.

She took off running, ignoring the shouts after her, and as soon as she was out the door, she yelled to the boys, “ _Go! Go! Go!_ ”

 

“Stay calm, Bill.” Mike said again.

“I’m c-c-calm.” Bill said. “It doesn’t even h-hurt that m-much.”

“Yeah, well, at some point we’re gonna have to remove the knife and apply disinfectant, and _then_ you’ll feel something.”

“Th-thanks for that.”

“They’re taking a while.” Eddie said, tapping his foot. “If they got into trouble, I swear to God, I’m going to go nuts.”

“I’m sure they didn’t-”

The other Losers burst into the alley, with Richie screaming, “We’re in _trouble_!”

“Fuck you!” Eddie yelled, as Stan tossed him the bag.

“Our shit’s in there,” Stan said, “But these two girls spotted us.”

“I think they knew me.” Bev said. “They might be following us.”

“Oh.” Mike said, staring over their shoulders. “They definitely followed you.”

They turned, startled, to see the two girls at the end of the alley- both around their age, one looking very nervous and the other a bit stunned.

“Shit!” Bill said.

Richie and Bev instantly ran forwards, pushing everyone else back. Bev took out her pocketknife, and Richie his lighter; if these girls were in VFD, they might have to fight.

“Take Bill and go, we’ll meet you somewhere.” Bev said.

“Holy shit,” said the girl in front. “You’re the Derry kids.”

There was a beat, and then Eddie said, “Yeah, fuck, we’re going.”

“No, no!” the ginger one stepped forwards. “No, don’t go, we don’t-”

“Take one step closer and I set the place on fire.” Richie warned.

The girls paused, and then the taller one said, “Look. We can help your friend.” she gestured to Bill. “I know how to deal with stab wounds. We’re not… we’re not with…” she whispered. “VFD.”

“Kay said you might be here.” the ginger said.

The Losers all stared at each other, judging. Then, Ben pushed his way forwards, staring at each of the girls in turn. “How loud is it where you are?” he asked.

The girls looked relieved. “Louder than back home.” they both said.

Hesitantly, Bev and Richie put their weapons away. “If you’re double-crossing us,” Bev said.

“We’re not! We’ve been here two weeks,” the ginger said, while her friend ran forwards to inspect Bill. “Because Kay thought you’d turn up. We were going to give up, thank God you decided to rob that pharmacy…”

“We gotta take him back to the building.” the other girl said, kneeling next to Stan. She turned to him, saying, “You guys got bandages? That’ll last til we can get to E.”

Stan nodded, and Eddie passed over the bag.

“Alright,” the girl said, looking up. “Audra, come help me. The rest of you, stand back.”

“Patty was going to be a VFD Doctor before we left.” the ginger said, running forwards and kneeling down. “She knows what she’s doing.”

“Once he’s bandaged,” Patty said, glancing between the Losers, “Help him move. We’ve got a place to go.”

 

They had to walk quite a bit, and they moved in a large group, keeping the obviously-injured Bill in the center, harder to see. Mike and Audra both had an arm, supporting him as they moved. Bill was indeed starting to feel the wound, and he kept muttering curse words under his breath as they moved.

“Our Headquarters was burned,” Patty whispered as they moved, “And Audrey- Audra, sorry- well, we ended up finding the files they were looking for when they set the place up. Not very… didn’t paint a good picture of VFD.”

“So you found E?” Ben asked.

“We found Vicky,” Audra said, “Who found E.”

“What does the ‘E’ stand for?” Bev asked.

“Everyone shut up.” Patty suddenly said. They stopped, and she ran up to a door on the building beside them, fumbling with a key. She then burst open the door, yelling, “Hey, Ellie! We need Medical Attention!”

They heard a crash as they entered, and as they closed the door behind them, suddenly realizing as they stepped into the nice place how filthy they all were, a woman ran out, looking very concerned.

“What? You need-” she scanned Patty and Audra. “You don’t look…” she spotted the crowd of kids behind them, and then said, “Oh, finally. Which one’s hurt?” 

“Bill.” Bev said hesitantly, staring.

The woman was tall, with long, dark hair, and piercing green eyes. Most interesting to them, though, were her eyebrows, which were curved, almost like question marks.

“Okay, get him to the kitchen.” E said. She turned to the other kids. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere, you know. We were just about to head to… well, it doesn’t matter. We’ll take care of Bill; if you don’t want to stay with him, you can wash up upstairs- Patty, Audra, do you mind if they borrow some clothes?”

“We have clothes.” Ben said hesitantly. “We washed them two towns back, they should still be good.”

“And we’re not leaving Bill. We’ll be there for him.” Mike said quickly, and the others nodded.

“Alright.” E said hesitantly, glancing between them. “We should’ve found you sooner. I wandered the woods when I was a kid, too, and… well, you all had each other.”

“Yeah.” Bev said, glancing to the others. “We did.”

“Sorry,” Bill said, still staring at her. “Who are you?”

E sighed, brushing a stand of hair out of her face. “Sorry. They all call me ‘E’ in public, since I don’t want any previous associates to recognize me. But you can call me Ellington while you’re here.” She gestured. “Now, come on. Let’s fix you up.”


	37. Short Epilogue - Something Will Happen

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN**

_Short Epilogue - Something Will Happen_

 

Bill stared out the window, watching the rain fall.

He’d been sitting there for several minutes, and he knew the Losers were worried- they kept glancing towards him, muttering, gesturing. But he wasn’t about to move.

The first one to finally move was Audra, who went and sat next to him on the seat beneath the window. She said, “Hey. You want coffee?”

“I’ll be f-fine.”

There was a bit of a silence, and then she said, “You know, the kids in Stain’d are waiting for you. You’re a few months overdue, they wanna know if you’re still coming.”

“Not un-until-”

“Until you find Georgie, yeah.” Audra glanced at the other kids, who had abandoned their game of _Monopoly_ about ten minutes ago to just toss the game pieces at each other when they thought their opponent wasn’t looking. She sighed, and then said, “Look, Billy-”

“We’re f-finding him.”

“Of course we are! But we’ve been traveling with E for a few months, and she can’t keep being subtle when she’s got nine kids running around. We don’t exactly look like a normal family.”

“I dunno,” Richie suddenly said loudly. “You and Bev could pull off sisters, probab- OW!”

Eddie had elbowed him in the ribs. Bill had a feeling they’d all agreed to let Audra do the talking, as if he didn’t know they were all listening and thinking the same things. He turned slightly, saying, “I want to g-get him out of th-there.”

“We all do. Nobody should be…” Audra sighed. “Pat?”

“E will definitely find him. She can do anything.” Patty said. “But we’re just holding her back. She’ll do better if we’re somewhere safe, and she doesn’t have to worry about us, too.”

“I don’t w-want him to be scared.” Bill said. “When he gets here. You all c-can go to Stain’d with-without me-”

“We’re not going anywhere without you.” Bev said softly. “But we can’t just keep going like this, Bill.”

“The Stain’d group sounds nice.” Richie admitted, fidgeting slightly.

“Yeah, E says that they’ve got _adult supervision_.” Stan said. “Which is, like, a foreign concept.”

“I think E counts as an adult.” Mike said.

“They’ve got one adult, who apparently is super good at her thing,” Eddie picked up, “And a bunch of older teens who’re watching the kids. They say they got a big building, they can pretend to be a boarding school or orphanage or whatever when we come in.”

“E’s got friends at the newspaper, so nothing suspicious we do’ll get spread around.” Ben added.

“She’ll contact us the second she finds Georgie.” Stan added. “We just…”

The door opened, and Ellington Feint walked in, saying, “Okay, kids, we have some news.”

They sat up, and Bill said, “G-Georgie?”

“No, sorry.” she said. “Still trying to find a decent Headquarters to get into for that. No, no, it’s about the… other thing.”

“What other thing?” Mike asked.

Patty and Audra, however, sat up sharply, excited. “You found them?” Patty asked.

“Did you make contact?” Audra added.

“Lyra thinks they’re heading back to Briny Beach.” Ellington said, moving towards the phone. “She had to leave town temporarily due to a passing VFD group, and she believes she saw them leave-”

“Who are we talking about, cryptids?” Stan asked.

“They, very understandably, don’t want to be spotted.” Ellington said, dialing a number and putting the phone to her ear. “But we want to offer our assistance anyway. VFD seems very intent on finding them-”

“Wait, is this about the… Baudelaires?” Bev asked, sounding a bit nervous.

“Yes.” Ellington said, and Mike, Bev and Stan exchanged a quick look; they were still getting used to getting straight answers for their questions. “We assume they’d like to be left alone, but if we can help them hide-”

“Well, in that case, I’m sure Snicket’s books aren’t helping.” Ben added. “They’re basically being used to call attention to VFD’s bull-”

Ellington froze, looking a bit panicked for a moment, before slowly turning towards Ben, interrupting. “Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“I’m sure Snicket’s books aren’t-” Ben stared at her. “You’ve come across the Baudelaires’ books, right? I mean, if you’re tracking them…” he stopped when he spotted Audra and Patty shooting him a _shut up_ gesture.

“I mean… I know there are books, but… my associates were working on those, they didn’t mention…” Ellington suddenly stopped. “Sorry, they just picked up. We _will_ talk about this in a second.”

She put the phone to her ear, and said, “Is it loud where you are?” She paused. “Hello… Dustin! Yes, are you doing alright? Has your Mother stopped by yet? Well, it’ll be soon, I’m sure… I just wanted to let you know we may have to delay the drop-off a bit longer, we’re heading towards Briny Beach. I’ll see if I can drop the new kids off…”

Suddenly, as the boy on the other end spoke, her face dropped, fear in her eyes. “What? No, no, I never sent any telegram. No, the kids are still with me, we still haven’t found Bill’s brother. I’m not dropping them…”

“What’s going on?” Eddie asked.

“E?” Bev looked very concerned.

“Do _not_ leave the house, and make sure they don’t leave Stain’d.” Ellington said, suddenly very serious. “If they find out where you are, or even get you where they can find you, you are in _deep shit_ , okay? Do _not_ leave, we are coming your way.”

The Losers all turned to stare at each other, all feeling very, very worried. Audra and Patty jumped up, almost as if ready to grab their things immediately.

“Stay safe, and do not leave the town.” Ellington said, hanging up.

She turned around, then, looking stormy. “Change of plan. Baudelaires are going to have to wait. We need to get to Stain’d.” she said. “ _Now_.”

 

_“Stay safe, do not go after them, and do not leave the town.”_

Dustin put down the phone, turning to stare at the other kids.

“Well?” Max asked, impatiently. “What did E say?”

“Did they meet up yet?” Will asked. “Is Mom okay?”

Dustin paused, glancing between them all; Mike and El were sitting on the floor, holding hands and looking worried. Max and Lucas were tensed up, glancing towards the weapons pile in the corner. Will and Jonathan were standing in the doorway, looking terrified. Steve watched from the corner, and slowly, he reached for the car keys.

“Well,” Dustin said after a second, “We might have to go after them and leave the town.”

There was a pause, before Max called, “I’m driving!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry about that cliffhanger, especially it may take a bit... longer to resolve than normal. 
> 
> That being that I'm writing a completely different AU I want to start posting ASAP- it's kind of the reverse of this, where the characters from ASOUE are all in the Stranger Things universe. (you can see the original gifset here, though I'm making a few changes - https://whencartoonsruletheworld.tumblr.com/post/173329725932/ ) 
> 
> I will definitely be returning to this AU, but we're taking a semi-hiatus while Should I Stay (Or Should I Go?) is being written and posted! I'll link you to it once it's up! 
> 
> Anyway, the next fic will definitely include the entire Party, the Losers Club, Erica Sinclair, Audra Phillips and Patty Blum, some very confused Baudelaires, a very done-with-VFD's-bullshit Ellington, a very annoyed Moxie, and Max getting to once again steal a car. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, y'all!


End file.
